Red Cross says Niger refugee situation 'very worrying'

Niamey (AFP) - The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Wednesday about the plight of tens of thousands of refugees who have fled to Niger to escape waves of deadly Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria.

"It's a very worrying situation," Red Cross spokesman Daddy Rabiou told AFP in Niamey, adding that the agency had provided food for more than 45,000 people last year.

"Many were injured, many others were sick and still others had lost contact with their families," Loukas Petridis, head of the ICRC mission in Niger, said in a statement.

"Most have been directly affected by the violence and have lost their property and their livelihoods."

The new arrivals have mainly settled in the arid southeastern region of Diffa, where the United Nations says drought and floods have exacerbated the food crisis.

Located 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) east of Niamey, the increasing insecurity has also cut off the region from its Nigerian supply sources.

The Red Cross also voiced concern about the high risk of disease and infection given poor living conditions for those who have fled.

Rabiou said the refugees have shown no signs of wanting to return home.

"Over the past few months, the confrontations have multiplied and are taking place closer to the border with Niger, sometimes just a few kilometres (miles) away," he said.

The United Nations says that since 2013, 115,000 people have fled Nigeria, where Boko Haram has been waging an increasingly bloody insurgency since 2009.