Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Yaoundé (Agenzia Fides) – More than 30.000 people represent a serious humanitarian emergency on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. Most are Nigerians fleeing the advancing front of Boko Haram, the Islamist sect which has vowed to establish a Caliphate in Northern Nigeria.
Terrifying events described by inhabitants fleeing from the city of Kerawa in the Nigerian state of Borno: at least 60 persons, mainly Christians and soldiers brutally slaughtered by Boko Haram warriors. On the other side of the border the Cameroon city with the same name Kerawa (Kerawa Cameroon) was also attacked and its people forced to flee to shelter in the city of Kolofata.
In the Kerawa Cameroon there is a concentration of Christians who fled Nigerian villages, and these are followed by Muslims fleeing from Gwoza department, also in Borno state. From Borno come contradictory reports of occupation by Boko Haram of the city of Bama, considered strategic since it would open the way to the conquest of the local capital Maiduguri. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 3/9/2014)
