Geneva/New York/Niamey: Most of the victims in the deadly attack by unidentified armed groups in Niger on March 21, 2021 were internally displaced people who had already fled horrendous violence, some of them during 2020, the UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency, stated in Geneva last night.
In all 137 people were killed in Niger’s western region of Tahoua, near the town of Tillia, when armed assailants on motorbikes attacked the villages of Intazayane, Bakorat and Wirsnat in Niger’s Tahoua region, some 50 kilometres from the Malian border on Sunday afternoon. Some of the injured were evacuated to Tahoua city, 150 kilometres away.
Six refugees from Mali were also among the 137 people killed, according to the latest reports. Shelters and granaries were burned to the ground during the attack, and cattle were stolen or killed and survivors have nothing left.
An estimated 1,400 people from the area were now on the move, trying to escape the threat of violence. It may be mentioned that Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali in the Sahel are at the epicentre of one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement and protection crises. The region is already hosting nearly three million refugees and people displaced inside their own country.
“Despite increased insecurity, Nigeriens continue to show their generosity to people fleeing violence in Africa’s Sahel and Lake Chad regions,”UNHCR spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov said.
UNHCR has anticipated populations moving towards nearby Intikane, Telemces and Tahoua. In Intikane, a large area designed to accommodate Malian refugees (20,000) and displaced Nigeriens (15,000) as well as their herds, 7,000 refugees were only just returning following an attack last May, when armed groups assassinated refugee leaders and a local host community leader. They had destroyed the main water station and pipes as well as phone tower, cutting communication and water supply to the displaced population and host communities.
Niger’s Tahoua and Tillaberi regions, which border Burkina Faso and Mali, currently host 204,000 refugees and internally displaced people. The regions of Tillaberi and Tahoua bordering Mali and hosting the majority of the refugees had increasingly got affected by insecurity and terrorism ever since the outbreak of conflict in northern Mali in 2012.
The Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General told journalists in New York last night (IST) that UNHCR and its partners are continuing to gather information from survivors, and added: “They are also providing humanitarian aid and counselling for them.”
Gillian Triggs, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, said that it was “clear” that the attacks on displaced people and the communities generously hosting them, were “targeted and deliberate”. He added that many of the survivors had been left in shock and mourning. “Our teams and partners are monitoring the situation and providing humanitarian aid and counselling to survivors,” he said, while reiterating the UNHCR ‘s call for greater protection of civilians and displaced communities. “We also call on the international community to seize the sense of urgency and continue supporting regional efforts to address the root causes of this crisis and help us respond to humanitarian needs arising from forced displacement,” he said.
– global bihari bureau
