AFRICA/NIGERIA - Caritas: "There is hope of allowing refugees to return to their homes, but destruction is enormous"

Saturday, 28 March 2015

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "It was a joy to see the happiness with which refugees welcomed their Bishops who came to visit them", says Fr. Evaristus Bassey, Executive Director of Caritas Nigeria, who is in Rome for the meeting organized by Caritas Internationalis on the tragedy of a million refugees and displaced persons caused by the violence of Boko Haram (see Fides 26/03/2015). Fr. Evaristus was part of the delegation of Nigerian Bishops who in early March visited the 40,000 refugees welcomed in the camp of Maroua and other parts in the north of Cameroon (see Fides 10/03/2015).
"We were greeted with joy - says the priest -. The same scenes of joy we saw when we visited IDPs welcomed in Yola, Abuja and other parts of Nigeria". "Many of the refugees and displaced persons are housed in Church structures - emphasizes Fr. Evaristus -. For example, the Cathedral of Santa Teresa in Yola (Adamawa State capital) is home to about 270 people, in the Bishop’s house, in the oratory and in the school. In other areas the displaced are hosted in churches and families who have opened their homes, despite the strong economic burden that this entails".
"Boko Haram is a sect which fights anyone, including Muslims, who does not adhere to its ideology", explains the priest, noting that "among the refugees, about 20 percent are Muslims, more than 40 percent Christians and the rest belongs to the African traditional religion". "To avoid tension, and above all for fear of the presence of Boko Haram infiltrators, the leaders of the camps do not allow to hold religious initiatives within these structures".
The head of Caritas Nigeria reports of "having collected shocking testimonies regarding the violence of Boko Haram, like that of a woman who witnessed the brutal killing of her husband, or those who saw their brother beheaded or people forced to walk several miles to find refuge in Cameroon. Then there is the plight of children separated from their parents during the chaotic escapes. We have collected testimonies of forced recruitment in the ranks of Boko Haram, sometimes using drugs to weaken the will of the young Christians to recruit. Many of these, however, then try to escape".
"Now that the Nigerian army is liberating the areas occupied by Boko Haram there is hope of allowing the displaced persons to return to their homes, but it will take time because destruction is enormous" said Fr. Evaristus. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/03/2015)


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