Garoua-Boulaï
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Garoua-Boulaï (or Garoua-Boulay) is a town and commune in
Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
. The town is on the border with the
Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...
. Across the border, the nearest CAR settlement accessible by road is Baboua.


Refugees

In 2014, the town was severely impacted by the number of refugees fleeing the Central African Republic. On 12 March 2014, IRIN reported:
Some 30,000 refugees and returnees are estimated to have fled to East Region, where they are staying in the border towns of Garoua-Boulai, Kenzou and Yokadouma, living in squalid conditions, sleeping under trees, trucks and tents - some provided by the UN Refugee Agency (
UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...
), some cobbled together by refugees. Others have been taken into people’s homes - some of them relatives, some not. “Garoua-Boulai is overstrained by the different groups of refugees, and the situation is getting out of hand,” said the town’s mayor, Esther Yaffo Ndoe. “The refugees outweigh the capacity of UNHCR, the Red Cross and MSF, and the only government hospital is overwhelmed with patients,” she told IRIN ... UNHCR and the Cameroon Red Cross (CRC) are registering refugees for transfer to a camp in Mborguéne, 50km from Garoua-Bulai, but the site is more or less devoid of basic services. There are just two wells and one school, which is not functional. The nearest health clinic is 27 km away from the camp. Getting it up to scratch will require a lot of work.
Refugees are being "moved from Garoua Boulay to the new site at Mborguene, which can host up to 10,000 people." As of April 2014, a spokesperson for UNHCR stated:
The main entry points at Garoua Boulai and Kentzou reno longer accessible due to
anti-Balaka The Anti-balaka (''anti-machete'') is an alliance of militia groups based in the Central African Republic in the early 21st century said by ''the Guardian'' to be composed primarily of Christians, but also some Muslims. However, some church leade ...
activities, people are using alternative routes. “This has caused the number of entry points into Cameroon to grow from 12 to 27 over last three weeks, making it more challenging for our colleagues to monitor the border.”


Transport

Two trans-African automobile routes pass through Garoua-Boulai: * Tripoli-Cape Town Highway * Lagos-Mombasa Highway


See also

*
Communes of Cameroon The Divisions of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. They are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each province (now Regions). As of 2005 (and since 1996) there are 2 urban communities (Douala and Ya ...


References


Site de la primature - Élections municipales 2002

Contrôle de gestion et performance des services publics communaux des villes camerounaises
Thèse de Donation Avele, Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV * Charles Nanga,
La réforme de l’administration territoriale au Cameroun à la lumière de la loi constitutionnelle n° 96/06 du 18 janvier 1996
', Mémoire ENA. {{DEFAULTSORT:Garoua-Boulai Populated places in East Region (Cameroon) Communes of Cameroon Cameroon–Central African Republic border crossings