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Tag: Refugee

  • 5,000 Nigerian refugees repatriated from Cameroon

    5,000 Nigerian refugees repatriated from Cameroon

    Nigerian refugees who fled to Cameroon due to Boko Haram insurgency began returning to their homeland on Monday in a voluntary repatriation process, an official said.

    Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Nji said this in Maroua, the chief town of Cameroon’s far north region just before take-off for Nigeria’s Borno state.

    The first batch, consisting of 5,000 refugees who spent six years in Cameroon’s Minawao refugee camp, boarded buses as they began the journey.

    “We have taken all the precautions and all the necessary measures for you to have a safe trip,” Nji said.

    He said the journey was taking place in strict respect of anti-COVID 19 measures and announced that Cameroon has provided a “special relief package” for the returnees as they start their new life.

    “As a result of the insurgency, the bulk of the town has been destroyed but in the past year, serious rehabilitation efforts have been ongoing by the Borno state government.

    “So we are now ready to receive the returnees.

    “They are going to live in new neighbourhoods,” Lawan Wakilbe, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Borno State said in Maroua on the eve of departure.

    More than 57,000 Nigerians, mostly from Borno, have been taking refuge in the Minawao refugee camp, located in Mokolo, the Far North region of Cameroon, according to the United Nations.

  • CBN directs banks, others, to accept travel documents, refugee ID card for identification

    CBN directs banks, others, to accept travel documents, refugee ID card for identification

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed commercial banks and other financial institutions to, henceforth, accept Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRCTD) and Refugee Identification Card, as means of identification for financial transactions.

    The directive was given by Dr Kevin Amugo, Director, Finance Policy Regulation Department, on Wednesday, in Abuja, through a memo to the banks, other financial institutions and payment service providers in the country.

    Amugo said that the directive was necessitated by the challenges which refugees and asylum seekers experience, with means of identification, when they engaged in financial transactions.

    He also urged the banks to improve on due diligence in all transactions, so as to forestall money laundering and other criminal activities depending on the banking system.

    “All banks and financial institutions are referred to the provisions of the CBN AML/CFT Regulations 2013 (as amended) on customer due diligence.

    “They should note that MRCTD issued by the Nigeria Immigration Services; and the Refugee Identity Card issued by the National Commission for Refugee, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, are adequate means of identification for banking transactions.

    “Banks and other financial institutions are also required to continue to ensure that effective customer due diligence policies and procedures are implemented to combat money laundering, financing of terrorists, as well as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Amugo said.

  • 130 persons test positive for COVID-19 in refugee home

    130 persons test positive for COVID-19 in refugee home

    One hundred and thirty people have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) at accommodation for asylum seekers in western Germany, officials said on Monday.

    A spokeswoman for the district government of Cologne said that the remaining 170 residents at the shelter in the town of St. Augustin, around 30km south-east of Cologne, have been confirmed negative in tests.

    “As in all state accommodation facilities, the highest hygiene standards are being implemented,’’ she said.

    According to the spokeswoman, the residents are now being housed separately, depending on their test results, with outdoor areas also segregated.

    Asylum seekers have been instructed to eat only in their rooms.

    In order to reduce numbers at the facility, where families and individuals in the early process of applying for asylum in Germany are housed, some who tested negative have been relocated to other accommodation.

    The state of North Rhine Westphalia, where St Augustin is located, has already seen two major COVID-19 outbreaks at refugee accommodation facilities.

  • Man attacks refugees in shelter home, stabs nine

    Man attacks refugees in shelter home, stabs nine

    A man went on a stabbing spree Saturday night at an apartment complex in Boise, Idaho that is home to refugee families, sending nine people, including children, to the hospital, four with life-threatening injuries, police said.

    A 30-year-old man, Timmy Kinner, was arrested nearby soon after the attacks, which occurred about 8:45 p.m. local time Saturday, the Boise Police Department said in a statement.

    Kinner is not a refugee, police said. No motive was known, but police said that Kinner was a temporary resident at the apartment complex and had been asked to leave on Friday.

    Kinner, from Los Angeles, was being held without bail on Sunday morning at the Ada County jail on 15 charges, including six of injury to a child and nine of aggravated battery, jail records showed.

    Some of the victims were in apartments and others were in a parking lot, Boise Police Chief, Bill Bones, told reporters.

    The statement did not say from what countries the refugees had come.

    “This incident is not a representation of our community but a single evil individual who attacked people without provocation that we are aware of at this time,” Bones said in the statement.

    Jail records did not indicate whether Kinner had legal representation.

    Yahoo News/Reuters