Violence in English-speaking areas of Cameroon over the last year is having a knock-on effect in neighbouring Nigeria, where thousands of refugees are seeking sanctuary.
Some are fleeing the unrest while others are suspected to be secessionists in favour of armed struggle, who could use the Nigerian side of the border as a base.
John Inaku, head of the Cross River state emergency management agency, said over 28,000 people have arrived from western Cameroon since October.
“But many of them have not been registered yet and people are still coming in,” he told AFP.
Most have fled across the border on foot through the bush since the start of an increased crackdown by authorities in Yaounde.
– Guerilla warfare? –
Cameroon was divided between French and British colonial rulers before independence in 1960 and English-speakers account for some 20 percent of the population of 23 million.
They have long protested against what they perceive to be a bias towards their French-speaking compatriots.
Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis Spills Over Into Nigeria
