Report reaching Stefanos Foundation says yesterday, 29th April, 2020, Muslim Refugees began attacking Non-Muslims at the United Nations’ camp for Nigerian Refugees in Zamay, Marua, Cameroun. A place where fleeing Nigerian Boko Haram victims from various ethnic and religious beliefs were housed.

According to the report, the incident happened when an ethnic Glavda man who went to fetch water on the Muslims area was beaten and also stabbed by  the Muslim men there. The matter was reported to the U.N. Camp officials.

However, family of the victims felt the officials failed to arrest the perpetrator as this is the second time such incident is happening to their people.

The aggrieved family members of the victim then attempted to apprehend the perpetrator, they went to his house in the camp but did not find him.

In retaliation, Muslims in the camp reacted, they went attacking every Nom-Muslim on the road. They injured 13 and burnt down over 50 houses of Ethnic Non Muslims in the camp. Cameroonian soldiers were however deployed to the camp to calm the situation.

This is not the first time such incidents are happening in the camp. In 2017, a young Muslim boy was caught stealing beans out of the tent of some ethnic people in this Camp, when confronted by the Camp Officials, the Muslims rioted and the incident led to a religious fight among the people, leaving 8 people injured in the process.

It has been over 7 years now since ethnic Nigerian nationalities, mostly Christians fled the Gwoza hills from the Boko Haram insurgents to the United Nation’s Refugees’ Camp in Zamay Cameroun. The victims were later joined by their Muslim counterparts who were also not spared by the insurgents’ activities. However, the challenge of Muslims living together with Non Muslims continued to worsen, leading to the situation today.

In 2013, Stefanos Foundation visited the victims at this camp. The organisation later moved some of the victims to Jos, Plateau State where they provided them with shelter and other basic amenities. Today, although the camp has been closed and the people integrated into various communities in the city Center, Stefanos Foundation still caters for the school fees of their children as well as other needs.

This deteriorating relationship between Nigerian Refugees in the camp is becoming a concern to Stefanos Foundation.

We are calling on the people to eschew their differences and embrace peace so as not to add to their existing pain already caused them by insurgent activities.

We hope that this current situation now presents to United Nation a challenge enough for them to seek the best way of harmonizing the people so they can learn to embrace each other and live in peace with one another.