Maiduguri, NIGERIA
Fifteen women and five children were trampled to death on
Monday in a stampede for food and money for refugees in southeast Niger, a
regional governor said.
An aerial view shows houses outside the town of Diffa |
The
accident occurred at a youth and culture centre in Diffa, the main town of a region of the same name that hosts
more than a quarter of a million refugees and internally displaced
people.
"Unfortunately,
fifteen women and five children died... in this regrettable drama," Issa
Lemine, the regional governor of Diffa, said on television after visiting the
injured in hospital.
Aid
workers confirmed the death toll and said about 10 people had been injured.
The
region which abuts Nigeria and
Chad has been repeatedly hit by attacks by
Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadist
group since 2015.
It
hosts 119,000 Nigerian refugees, 109,000 internally-displaced people and 30,000
Nigeriens who have come home from Nigeria because of the instability in its
northeast, according to UN figures released in October.
The
aid being distributed had been given by Babagana Umara Zulum, the governor of
Borno state in northeast Nigeria, a Nigerian official told AFP.
He
had come to the region to visit camps for refugees and the displaced, and had
already left the town when the stampede occurred.
A
large amount of food, cooking oil and clothing, as well as money, was due to be
distributed, a Diffa municipal worker told AFP.
"Thousands
of people were in the courtyard of the MJC (Culture and Youth Centre) and
nearby," he said.
"As
soon as the first people received their rations, the compressed crowd started
to get excited, the organisers were swiftly overwhelmed and then it all kicked
off -- women, children and the fit ones started to push," the employee
said.
"The
weakest people fell to the ground. Some were injured and others were crushed to
death."
A
local resident told AFP that aid workers were distributing 5,000 naira ($13.75,
12.7 euros), referring to Nigeria's national currency.
Diffa
governor Lemine said a successful distribution had taken place on Sunday.
"Thousands
of people, most of them refugees, heard about the handout and left the camps,
sometimes travelling up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) to get to Diffa," the
source said.
A
local official said he was astonished at the situation: "Normally, people
who are entitled to the handouts send a representative to Diffa to pick it up.
But this time, the refugees themselves decided to come and get it, travelling
dozens of kilometres (miles)."
Another
resident said: "Even ordinary inhabitants of Diffa rushed there in the
hope of getting the handout."
A
local journalist said the emergency services arrived swiftly, taking wounded
people to local treatment centres, while bodies were taken to the morgue of the
nearby Diffa hospital.
Zulum
visited three sites housing more than 100,000 Nigerian refugees -- camps at
Bosso, Garin-Wazan and Toummour.
In
addition to a crisis sparked by jihadist violence, Diffa is also battling
floods caused by the Yobe River, which delineates part of Niger's border with
Nigeria.
The
floods have left more than 20,000 people without shelter, according to the
local authorities.
They
have also devastated rice and pepper fields, whose harvests provide the
backbone of the local economy. - AFP
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