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Thousands of people have fled northeastern Nigeria to Cameroon following violent attacks by a faction of militant group Boko Haram, which looted and destroyed large parts of a large city.
More than 8,000 refugees crossed the border into Bodo after Monday's attacks on the Nigerian city of Rann, in which at least 10 people were reportedly killed. Houses and buildings of humanitarian organizations were set on fire.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that it was preparing to help 15,000 people with food, water and medicine. The organization has published photos showing burning buildings and columns of fleeing people crossing a river, their few things balancing on their heads.
"Rann was like a cemetery": Isa Sadiq Bwala, nurse of Médecins Sans Frontières. Photo: Silas Adamou / MSF
"What struck me on our arrival was silence. Usually, Rann is brimming with life, but yesterday it was strange and calm, like a graveyard. The city was devastated and I was devastated to see it, "said Isa Sadiq Bwala, an MSF nurse.
It was not clear which faction of Boko Haram was responsible, but some sources in the northeast said the attacks were the work of Abubakar Shekau, the militant behind the 2014 kidnapping of Chibok's daughters. , who then appeared disheveled in a video posted online. to sell them on the market. Most of the girls were later released.
Rann, in eastern Borno, has been the target of several deadly attacks in recent years.
The two midwives abducted from Rann in March were later executed by Boko Haram, despite calls by the International Committee of the Red Cross, their employer, for clemency.
Rann's buildings were burned to the ground during the Boko Haram attack. Photo: Silas Adamou / MSF
"I am deeply saddened by the brutality of the latest violence in Rann, Baga and other parts of Lake Chad," said Mamadou Sow of the ICRC on Thursday. "To see tens of thousands of displaced families fleeing aimlessly again for security reasons in four different countries is catastrophic. Too much is too much; people are tired and need to be protected. "
Andrew Mews, national director of MSF in Nigeria, said the attacks belied any suggestion to improve stability in the north-east of the country.
"The emergency is not over yet," Mews said. "There has been a lot of talk that the situation may be stabilized and we could start thinking about developing more development activities in the northeast, but the reality is that the context does not allow it. We hope this is the case. "
He said the international organizations and the Nigerian authorities should remain and ensure the "appropriate humanitarian response".
MSF medical teams are dedicated to providing emergency badistance to 8,000 people who have fled Rann. A photograph: MSF
Attacks are proliferating in the state of Borno, the epicenter of the Boko Haram crisis, in recent months. Activists briefly took control of the city of Baga and stormed a military base, killing many soldiers and looting their weapons. They belonged to the other big Boko Haram faction, the Islamic State of West Africa, which separated from Shekau camp in 2016.
A search was carried out at the premises of one of the leading Nigerian newspapers in Maiduguri. His leader was arrested after the army published confidential information on a planned operation to retake Baga.
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