The Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has said that at least 500 fleeing Cameroonian refugees have crossed the border into Bashu Community in Cross River.

In an interview, the director-general of SEMA, Princewill Ayim, said refugees were said to be fleeing from the alleged invasion of their community by Ambazonian fighters.

“We got the information yesterday that Ambazonian fighters invaded a community in Cameroon which shares a border with Bashu community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River.

“We learnt that while some people were shot dead in the Cameroonian community, no fewer than 250 were injured, while at least 500 have fled into Bashu for protection,” Mr Ayim said.

He added that the state government had launched a team of officials from SEMA and the UN High Commission for Refugees.

“Others include National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced and Caritas Foundation to assess the situation after which we can determine the exact number of people that have fled into Nigeria.”

However, he said that there was no report of anybody either shot or dead in the Bashu community.

He said the agency became very concerned about the number of fleeing refugees into the country and the overstretched resources.

The SEMA boss appealed to the Bashu community to play the brotherly role and assist the Cameroonians.

The Ambazonian crisis in the English-speaking Southern Cameroon began in 2017 and has led to many refugees in different refugee camps in the country. 

(NAN)