This neighborhood in the town of Mora, in the Mayo Sava department of Cameroon’s Far North region, has become a reception center for several communities of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled the exactions of Boko Haram Islamist insurgents from neighboring Nigeria. As part of its drive to promote the solidarity-based reception of IDPs since 2020, the Faith et Justice Network went to meet some of these displaced people.

The Faith and Justice coordination team visits an IDP camp in Mora.

While the war against Boko Haram has left many dead in Cameroon, it has also left many displaced in the four corners of the country. Seeking shelter, they have found refuge either in refugee camps or in community centers.

A real obstacle course

Setting out from Amchidé in Mayo-Sava (Far North Cameroon) in 2014, the family of 20-year-old Fanne Ngoudja and several others had to travel over 60km on foot to escape death. “It was very difficult, but we had no choice. If we stayed there, we were all going to die”, exclaimed the young lady. A death promised by the Boko Haram jihadist insurgents from neighboring Nigeria. Leaving their livestock and crops behind, these families abandoned everything to seek refuge in the town of Mora. Before reaching this promised land, many of their number perished. Some of them died on the difficult journey, others under gunfire from rebel attacks. Some were also abducted. Especially the young men, with the aim of joining the rebel forces. As for the women, their captivity boiled down to their use as sex slaves.

A heart-warming welcome

Initially housed in the municipal stadium, the site has now been upgraded to a building donated by Dr Moussa, owner of a local private clinic. Here, 21 families (made up of some 80 people, with women and children accounting for the majority) share a few rooms that were once used as a chicken coop. In this poverty-stricken environment, petty trade is the main source of income. They also live off donations from benefactors who, from time to time, drop by with basic necessities. However, these are largely insufficient, especially as they are seasonal. While in the first reception center visited by the Faith and Justice Network, IDPs do not pay a single franc for accommodation, this is not the case in the second center, located around 200 m from the first. Here, IDPs pay for the land on which their straw huts are built. This sum is estimated at two sacks of millet per year.

Rodrigue BIKELE

AEFJN Cameroon