Kentzou is a town and

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Refugees

In the first months of 2014, the town became a destination for

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

fleeing violence in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

The border town of Kentzou was amongst the areas most heavily affected as refugee arrivals peaked between February and March. According to Emmanuel Halpha, the prefect of the
Batouri Batouri is a town and commune in the East Province of Cameroon. It is the second largest municipality in the province after the provincial capital Bertoua. It is located on the main (though unpaved) road connecting Bertoua to the Central Africa ...
area in the east of Cameroon, Kentzou’s population “tripled in record time”.

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

Cameroon estimated that as of May 5, 2014, 11,971 people had crossed into Cameroon at Kentzou. According to IRIN, some of the refugees in Kentzou are

third country national Third country national (TCN) is a term often used in the context of migration, referring to individuals who are in transit and/or applying for visas in countries that are not their country of origin (i.e. country of transit), in order to go to a d ...

Unlike refugees who are protected by international conventions, third-country nationals (TCNs), who neither belong to the country of refuge or the one they fled, are not covered by any global rights conventions. It is often up to their governments to look after them and arrange for their repatriation.

As of June 2014 in Kentzou, "embassy delegations have visited their nationals, including Malians, Nigerians, Nigeriens and Senegalese, offering cash and other donations of basic necessities, but not flights back home."

References

Populated places in East Region (Cameroon) Communes of Cameroon Cameroon–Central African Republic border crossings {{Cameroon-geo-stub

Refugees

See also

References