130,000 Nigerian Refugees Set to Return From Niger By December

Niger republic and Borno state in neighbouring Nigeria have struck a deal for the return of more than 130,000 Nigerian refugees.

Niger’s president Mohamed Bazoum told reporters on the sidelines of a G5 Sahel summit in Paris on Friday that a deadline has been set for their return.

“We have set a deadline of the month of November-December for all the refugees from Nigeria who are in the Diffa region (of southeast Niger) to return home, it’s more than 130,000 people,” he said.

Niger hosts tens of thousands of people who have fled from northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamists launched a bloody campaign a dozen years ago.

Borno has borne the brunt of the conflict, which has killed around 40,000 people and displaced more than two million.

Its authorities are already trying, with limited success, to encourage internally displaced people in Borno to return to their homes.

NIger is also fighting jihadist incursions on two fronts – on its western border with Mali and in its southeastern border with Nigeria, in the vast Lake Chad area.

The Diffa region is home to 300,000 Nigerian refugees and displaced people, according to the UN.