UPDATE 2-Northwest Nigeria violence drives 20,000 into Niger -UNHCR

(Adds details)
GENEVA, May 28 (Reuters) - Violence in northwest Nigeria has
forced around 20,000 refugees to flee to neighbouring Niger
since April, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.
It voiced concern about deteriorating security conditions in
the West African country, where military and police have been
deployed to tackle criminal gangs behind a spate of killings and
kidnappings.
Security forces are already stretched tackling the
decade-long insurgency by Islamist group Boko Haram in the
northeast.
"This is not Boko Haram related in any way," UNHCR spokesman
Babar Baloch told a media briefing. "People are reportedly
fleeing due to multiple reasons, including clashes between
farmers and herders of different ethnic groups, vigilantism, as
well as kidnappings for ransom," he said.
The announcement came the day before the inauguration of
President Muhammadu Buhari, the former military leader who
secured a second term in February elections promising to improve
security.
The Senate, the country's upper house of parliament, last
month increased the 2019 budget by 80 billion naira ($261
million) citing the need for a rise in spending on security
across the country. Baloch said refugees arriving in Niger's southern Maradi
region had reported machete attacks, kidnappings and sexual
violence.
Banditry has plagued the northwest for years, particularly
around Zamfara state and its border with Kaduna state, though a
recent spate of kidnappings and killings in the region has put
it in the public eye. Authorities suspended mining in Zamfara in April amid
concerns that illegal miners were connected to a rise in
violence. Clashes between farming communities and nomadic herders over
dwindling land in Nigeria last year killed more people than the
Boko Haram conflict, according to the Armed Conflict Location
and Event Data Project. = 306.4500 naira)