UN warns against refugee returns to Nigeria from Cameroon

The UN voiced alarm Wednesday at the many Nigerian refugees returning from Cameroon to Banki, a border town clouded by Boko Haram violence and already struggling with overstretched supplies and services.

"I am extremely worried that large numbers of Nigerian refugees hosted in Cameroon are again returning to northeast Nigeria - into a situation dangerously unprepared to receive them," UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

The Nigerian military recaptured Banki in September 2015 after fierce battles with the Islamist militants, whose insurgency has killed at least 20,000 in Nigeria alone since 2009.

On June 1, UNHCR had said that more than 12,000 refugees had returned to the area in May alone, complaining about difficult conditions in the Minawao refugee camp on the Cameroonian side of the border, and insisting they needed to get home to harvest crops.