During the month of April, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) counted 4,591 internally displaced persons in the crisis regions of the Northwest and Southwest.
“More than 4,591 people reportedly moved to the neighboring bushes, villages and cities, with the most affected divisions being Manyu in the Southwest and Donga-Mantung in the Northwest the most affected divisions,” OCHA said in a recent report on the humanitarian situation in these two regions.
According to this UN organization, “most movements are temporary, with the civilian population gradually adapting to the crisis by taking shelter during clashes or other forms of violence and returning when calm returns”.
OCHA notes that populations are caught between two fires, with the army on one side and separatist militias on the other. “The people of the Northwest and Southwest regions have continued to suffer the consequences of violent incidents, whether directly targeted or caught in crossfire, explosions of improvised explosive devices, terrorist attacks, or military raids,” reads the report.
Still in terms of insecurity, OCHA reports this incident in early April: “on April 1 and 2, a group that would come from neighboring Nigeria invaded some villages in the Ako district, in the northwest of the country, and kidnapped at least 33 people. They also seized food and other valuables from community members. The abductees were released six days later in unclear circumstances.”
It should be recalled that the current crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions has already caused the displacement of more than 600,000 people within the country since 2017. More than 86,000 people are also believed to be refugees in neighboring Nigeria
