Boko Haram Cross-Border Insurgency and Humanitarian Situation in South-eastern Niger Republic

Boko Haram started as a local group operating within the boundaries of Borno State in Nigeria. Not quite long, the group transformed into a regional insurgent organisation with global linkages and funding. The phenomenon became a trans-national disaster within the region of the Lake Chad Basin, especially across Nigeria-Niger border. The north-eastern Nigerians (Borno and Yobe States) and south-eastern Nigeriens (Diffa and Zinder Regions) were seriously affected by the activities of the group across borderlines. Hundred thousands of people were displaced; and consequently, the problems of refugees, internally displaced persons and returnees in Diffa and Zinder became humongous. Through content analysis of the existing literature and oral data, this paper examined humanitarian crisis in Diffa and Zinder consequent on cross-border insurgency. It is observed that, there are linkages between Boko Haram insurgency and humanitarian crisis in Diffa on one hand, and humanitarian problems in Zinder, on the other. The paper discovered that between 2015 and 2017, more than 252,305 Nigerians and Nigeriens have been in Diffa and Zinder suffering from the stigmatization of refugees, internally displaced persons and returnees. It is equally observed that, little of the needed humanitarian interventions have been achieved; because, the interventions by the Governments of Nigeria and Niger are not commensurate with the sufferings of the Boko Haram victims in Diffa and Zinder. Therefore, the paper calls for a Nigeria-Niger Inter-governmental Humanitarian Agency to cater for the needs of the victims.