Cholera, measles kill 70 in Taraba refugee camp

About 70 people, mostly women and children, have lost their lives in an outbreak of cholera and measles in Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State. The victims were refugees of Tiv extraction, who escaped from the violence in Wukari and other flash-points in the state. Many of the victims, among who were pregnant women, also died of malnutrition due to the dehumanising conditions in the camp. Spokesman for the refugees, Mr. Emmanuel Kegh, told newsmen at a press briefing at the camp on Wednesday that the people lacked basic amenities, such as potable water and toilets. He said, “Since the outbreak of the communal violence in Taraba State that necessitated the creation of this camp, we have lost more than 70 people from the two child-killer diseases of cholera and measles and from malnutrition and unhealthy condition. We lack food in this camp and many of us have died of hunger.” The spokesman accused the Taraba State government of playing a lip service to the plight of the refuges, despite all the assurances by the Chairman of the Taraba State Peace Initiative, Bishop Charles Yonana, that every arrangement for peace would be made and the displaced people could go back to their various places. He added, “Life here in the camp can simply be described as hell on earth. We are not used to staying like this and depending on people’s goodwill for a living. We are farmers and we are use to feeding very well. It is not a funny experience seeing your children dying of hunger. “When we first came in here around March, SEMA came and gave us relief materials, and later NEMA and people from the Defence Headquarters. Since then, no one has come here again. Even at that, the relief materials that reached us were very inadequate. The bulk of the materials were given to the Fulani. The authorities insisted that Fulani too were displaced and should be given the materials and the bulk of it was given to them. “But go round and see. There is no where Fulani are displaced. They don’t have a refugee camp like us. They have even taken over our villages as their grazing zone and farmlands,” he added. The spokesman, who lamented the physical, moral and psychological damage the crisis had caused them, called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, intervene in the crisis by providing adequate security for them to return to their farms and continue with their normal lives. The Chairman, Bali Local Government Council, Mr. Andy Yerima, who also spoke on the occasion, decried the intervention of the government in the plight of the refuges. He however said that the local government had been doing all within its powers to assist the refuges. Also speaking, Mrs. Comfort Ivase, said the temporal arrangement had become permanent thus making life so unbearable. She also lamented the psychological trauma the affected people were going through as rejected people by their society. The President, Christian Reform Church -Nigerian, Dr. Kaleb Ahima, in an interview accused the Taraba State government of playing lips service when people were dying in their hundreds. He also questioned the integrity of the acting governor, Garba Umar, for accepting to collect peace award when people were still being killed in his state.