They were supervised by the Cameroonian and Chadian authorities as well as the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Nearly 48,000 Cameroonians are still refugees in 18 urban sites in Ndjamena, the Chadian capital, UNHCR reports. The latter live in unsanitary conditions and sleep under the stars for the most part. To support their diet, Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby provides them with 5 oxen a day. Nearly 6,000 displaced people have already returned to their homes in Logone-et-Chari, on the Cameroon side.
The imminent voluntary repatriation of these Cameroonian refugees who fled the bloody clashes between Choas Arabs and Mousgoums/Massa was discussed during a working session held yesterday 17 December in Ndjamena by the Minister of Territorial Administration of Chad, an inter-ministerial mission of Cameroon led by Minat Paul Atanga Nji and UNHCR officials.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, intercommunal clashes between herders, fishermen and farmers, which have erupted in the past two weeks in the Far North, have driven at least 100,000 people from their homes, creating a humanitarian emergency. The vast majority of new arrivals in Chad are children, and 98 per cent of adults are women. 37,000 people are scattered in 10 rural sites along the Chadian bank of the Logone River.
