Paper short abstract:

The contribution aims to research about the outcomes of the Boko Haram crisis in the lifestyle of different displaced communities in the Lac Tchad region: the resettlement dyanamic, the perception of State and NGOs role and the evolution of the frontless war against the terrorist-criminal group.

Paper long abstract:

From 2013 the Boko Haram crisis resulted in a vast displacing movement of more than 2 million people in the Lake Chad area. A great afflux of more or less 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees has interested the Lac region of Chad. This region is experiencing a prolonged food insecurity, influnced by drought and repeated crop failures, which has been greatly aggravated by the closing of transborder trade with neighbouring countries. Meanwhile the military deployment disposed by the Lake Chad Basin Commission all over the lake has greatly accelerated the pattern of displacement of several thousands islanders, mainly Buduma, which have found a new home in temporary settlements in the mainland. These shelters have now fostered a resettlement process linked to the provision of services by NGOs: medical services, formal and informal schooling and the assignment of food vouchers and pocket money. This situation has produced a double dynamic: while many IDPs and refugees seek to exploit as long as possibile the opportunities provided by NGOs and the relatively easy access to urban centres hitherto unknown, many see their living conditions very limited by the humanitarian machine's constraints. Drawing from fieldwork conducted in six different IDPs and refugees sites in the Mamdi prefecture of Lac Tchad region, this contribution aims to reflect on local perception of State and NGOs interventions, about the progressive redefinition of competences between State and non-State actors and about the evolution of the so-called Boko Haram war in the wide Lake Chad area.