UN fears humanitarian crisis in Cameroon in 2016

A worsening humanitarian crisis is feared in Cameroon in 2016 due to an increase in the number of refugees and IDPs.

This is as a result of the ongoing violence by the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram, already at the origin of the presence in refugee camps in this country of some 61,000 Nigerians, alerted the United Nations.

According to the latest estimates, the now country hosts a total of 61,435 Nigerian refugees in the Far North Region including more than 45,000 in the Minawao camp; a site under protection by defense forces and Cameroonian security, administered with the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to support local authorities.

Added to Cameroonian 81,693 IDPs driven from their homes by the growing attacks since 2014 by Boko Haram, Najat Rochdi, coordinator-resident UN system in Cameroon specified.

These figures, which increased after the suicide attacks recorded in July, are higher than what was recorded at the beginning of the year. This was when the United Nations had estimated an amount of $ 260 million (FCFA 130 billion) annual funding for the management of the humanitarian crisis.

As the end of the year approaches, slightly more than half of these funds, $ 140 million (FCFA 7 billion) have been mobilized from a small number of donors, including United States (highest donor), followed by the United Nations Fund for Food Aid, Great Britain, Japan, Canada, Sweden, France and Switzerland, revealed Ms. Rochdi .

Among the four countries affected by the terrorist threat, which includes Nigeria, Chad, and Niger, Cameroon is unaccustomed to the experience of international aid due to humanitarian crises of this nature is "financed better" she noted at a press conference Tuesday in preparation for the 70th United Nations Day in Yaounde.

With the arrival of hundreds of new refugees almost every week, UNHCR fears an increase in number in 2016. "So there will be no need," warned Laurent Raguin, deputy resident representative of the agency in Cameroon.

About a million people are also victims of food insecurity and some 100,000 children affected by chronic malnutrition in the Far North, because of climatic hazards illustrated by drought, floods, and infectious diseases, according to official statistics.

These populations are also taken into account by the humanitarian assistance programs developed by the United Nations, in collaboration with the Cameroon government. And for better answers to all these crises, a call for funds is expected in December for the implementation of a strategic action plan under development.

For Najat Rochi, the goal is to "get out of this chronic issue [humanitarian]" in 2016, for the establishment of an appropriate resilience strategy to empower the economic and social plan for IDPs and local population areas concerned.

An emergency fund for IDPs encompassing Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, and Niger to be held in three weeks was announced to stabilize the situation.

"We are in a stage of stabilization of refugees in the refugee sites of Cameroonian villages that have received refugees", said the UN official at the same time.

In the Eastern Regions, North, and Adamawa, Cameroon also hosts some 240,000 Central African refugees, for which early recovery programs have been executed since the year started. This is to prepare for their return to the country once the conditions are appropriate, explained Rochdi.

Curbing insecurity in its Northern and Eastern regions is a crucial challenge for Cameroon, which has chosen to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the UN under the theme "Peace and Security for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals" adopted at the end of September in New York.

It replaces the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which recorded mixed results in the country.