Geneva - Violence in northwest Nigeria has
forced around 20 000 refugees to seek safety in neighbouring
Niger since April, the United Nations refugee agency said on
Tuesday.
Military, police and state security forces have been
deployed to northwest Nigeria in recent months to tackle
criminal gangs behind a spate of killings and kidnappings.
Security forces are already stretched tackling the
decade-long insurgency by Islamist group Boko Haram in the
northeast.
"This is not Boko Haram related in any way," UNHCR spokesman
Babar Baloch told a media briefing. "People are reportedly
fleeing due to multiple reasons, including clashes between
farmers and herders of different ethnic groups, vigilantism, as
well as kidnappings for ransom," he said.
He said people were fleeing to Niger, which lies to the
north, due to the surge in crime in the Nigerian states of
Sokoto and Zamfara.
Zamfara is the state worst hit by the uptick of violence
that has killed dozens of people since the start of the year.
The surge began last year, when it prompted the deployment of
the air force and 1,000 security personnel to the state.
Nigerian authorities in April suspended mining in Zamfara
amid concerns that illegal miners were connected to a rise in
banditry.