NIGERIA: BAKASSI REFUGEES REMAIN IN NEED

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000224 SIPDIS DOE FOR GPERSON, TREASURY FOR DPETERS,RHALL COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS STATE PASS USTR FOR AUSTR FLISER, LAGAMA STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART STATE PASS TDA FOR LFITTS STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREF KDEM PBTS SMIG NI CM SUBJECT: NIGERIA: BAKASSI REFUGEES REMAIN IN NEED Classified By: Acting Consul General Helen C. Hudson for Reasons 1.4 (B ,D) ¶1. (C) Acting Consul General spoke on June 22 with Dr. Theo Osin Oyuko (protect throughout),Executive Director of the Cross River State Youth Assembly. He said that the individual from his organization who has been in Ikang, where the refugees are sheltering in a school, has noted a decrease in the number of refugees, especially those who draw their livelihoods from fishing and who are traveling to other locations along the creeks in other Niger Delta States so that they can get on with their lives, he said. The Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is not doing enough to help. Food is being provided, and water has been brought in a tanker, but blankets and medicines are in short supply. People cannot control the sanitation of the area, so many people are suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, he said, along with being subjected to swarms of mosquitoes given that there are no preventive measures or protection being provided to them at this time. ¶2. (C) Equally serious is the hostility of the local inhabitants of the area, who are concerned that the refugees will be relocated to their villages. The Government has located a rural place where it intends to relocate the refugees, but he noted that he doubted that this will be acceptable to the refugees as many of them hope for virgin land where they will not displace others and want to move far away from Bakassi. Oyuko noted that the 300-500 young men are still being held in detention by the Cameroonian gendarmes in unknown conditions. Nigerian militant youths opposed to the Bakassi handover to Cameroon are still threatening to release their young countrymen by force, he noted. ¶3. (C) Also on June 22, Acting Consul General spoke with Senator Florence Ita-Giwa. She said that the number of refugees remains over 3,000. A child, who arrived in Ikang ill, has died, she said, and another child's mother died on route to the camp. A "more convenient" area for the refugees in an unused model school has been located, she continued and is being renovated by the Government. The Senator mentioned that there were not enough blankets. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has still not visited the area, and she has sent them an urgent message requesting that they contact her. To date, the refugees have been visited by members of the National Assembly, but Cross River Assembly persons and by other political notables such as the Cross River Governor. HUDSON