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Nigeria: Security Forces and Insecurity
AfricaFocus Bulletin
April 7, 2014 (140407)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"Boko Haram is both a serious challenge and manifestation of more
profound threats to Nigeria's security. Unless the federal and
state governments, and the region, develop and implement
comprehensive plans to tackle not only insecurity but also the
injustices that drive much of the troubles, Boko Haram, or groups
like it, will continue to destabilise large parts of the country.
Yet, the government's response is largely military, and political
will to do more than that appears entirely lacking." -
International Crisis Group, April 3, 2014
The advice from international agencies and partners, as well as
from Nigerian civil society, is consistent. A primarily military
approach to the very real threat from Boko Haram in the northeast
will not work, and in fact, will only produce more human rights
abuses and fuel the conflict. Nevertheless, there seem to be no
signs of a change in de facto government policy. And Nigeria's
major partners, such as the United States, have given decidedly
mixed signals on the issue, with an official designation of Boko
Haram as "terrorist" last November, and news that the U.S. will be
supplying additional training to Nigerian forces (see links below).
Unlike other conflicts in Africa, in which the United Nations, the
African Union, and others play major roles, with the potential for
greater accountability, the outcomes in Nigeria depend primarily on
internal debates within Nigeria, in which hard-liners seem to have
the effective upper hand.
Nonetheless, the evidence is clear that the policies are promoting
insecurity rather than security. This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains
excerpts from two reports released in the last two weeks on the
issue, one from Amnesty International and the other from the
International Crisis Group.
Of related interest:
Background on debate about "terrorist" designation
http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/bh1206.php
"US names Nigeria's Boko Haram and Ansaru 'terrorists'"
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-24931684
"US military aids Nigeria on Boko Haram: New special ops units
expected to benefit from Pentagon training and equipment,"
Christian Science Monitor, January 23, 2014
http://www.csmonitor.com/ - http://tinyurl.com/ossz83f
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Nigeria, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/country/nigeria.php
The most recent on the conflict in the northeast is at
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/nig1310.php
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on peace and conflict issues,
visit http://www.africafocus.org/peaceexp.php
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Nigeria: More than 1,500 killed in armed conflict in north-eastern
Nigeria in early 2014
Amnesty International
https://www.amnesty.org/en/region/nigeria
AFR 44/004/2014
March 31, 2014
Introduction
Since the start of 2014, more than 1,500 people have been killed in
north-eastern Nigeria. People are living in a climate of fear and
insecurity, vulnerable to attack from Islamist armed group Boko
Haram on the one hand and facing human rights violations at the
hands of the very state security forces which should be protecting
them. In light of this context, the ongoing intensity of the
confrontation and the organisation of the clashing actors, Amnesty
International considers the situation to be a non-international
armed conflict.
According to Amnesty International's research at least half of the
deaths are civilians, killed in attacks by Boko Haram. More than
600 people, mainly former detainees, were killed by the security
forces following the attack by Boko Haram on the military barracks
in Maiduguri on 14 March. These killings amount to crimes against
humanity and war crimes.
Amnesty International is extremely concerned that Nigerian security
forces and the Islamist armed group Boko Haram are committing
serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and
human rights abuses amounting to war crimes and crimes against
humanity. There have been hundreds of unlawful killings, including
scores of extrajudicial executions, and deliberate attacks on
civilians. Thousands of detainees have been victims of torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Suspected Boko Haram members have launched a campaign of violence
on the residents of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. A state of
emergency was declared by President Goodluck Jonathan in these
three states in May 2013 and was extended in November 2013.
The extension of the state of emergency has not helped to reduce
the violence in northern Nigeria. Hundreds of people are dead,
thousands of families have been separated and hundreds of thousands
of people have fled the affected states and are seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries or have been internally displaced. National
and international humanitarian organisations have faced serious
difficulties in reaching out to people in some parts of the
affected region. As a result, thousands do not have access to
emergency medical care and food supplies. Women, the elderly and
children have been mostly affected.
Since the violence started in 2009, thousands of fighters have also
been killed in clashes between security forces and Boko Haram
members across different locations in north-eastern Nigeria. Since
2012, thousands of people have died in military custody in Borno
and Yobe states. Hundreds more have been victims of enforced
disappearances and thousands have been subjected to acts of torture
and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in
military and police custody in north-eastern Nigeria.
Amnesty International is calling on regional and international
human rights bodies to step up in ensuring that thorough,
independent, impartial and transparent investigations are
conducted. Nigeria should seek international assistance and advice
in the conduct of these investigations and any subsequent
prosecutions.
...
Recent Attacks and Unlawful Killings by Boko Haram
Since the beginning of 2014, attacks by suspected Boko Haram
members have intensified, resulting in the deaths of more than 700
people, mainly civilians not directly participating in hostilities.
Boko Haram has embarked on a campaign of widespread violence and
human rights abuses, resulting in a general atmosphere of
intimidation and fear among the population in north-eastern
Nigeria. They have claimed responsibility for the majority of
attacks in the north-east. As far as Amnesty International is able
to ascertain, no other group or individuals have claimed
responsibility for the attacks. However, it is possible that other
groups or individuals have also carried out some of these attacks.
On 3 March suspected Boko Haram members attacked Jakana Village in
the Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State. They killed
between 40 and 48 civilians, and destroyed shops and the police
station. ...
On 25 February, suspected Boko Haram members attacked a college in
Yobe State, killing between 43 and 59 students and teachers.
Several survivors and local residents told Amnesty International
that the gunmen spent four hours in the school compound killing
people and burning nearby houses and school buildings. They
described how gunmen arrived around 9:00pm and started shooting
indiscriminately, killing every male they found. Children who hid
in a classroom were burned alive. Survivors and some eye witnesses
told Amnesty International it took several hours before the army
responded.
In an interview with Amnesty International, one of the staff at the
school said: "When the gunmen entered the school compound, there
was confusion. Everybody was running for safety. I and many
students ran into the bush. Many of the children did not return
after the attack. We don't know what has happened to them. When I
returned, my quarters had already been burned. As we speak, I'm
staying with a relative. I don't know what to do. I am fed up."
On Tuesday 11 February, suspected Boko Haram members killed more
than 50 people and burnt scores of homes in the village of Konduga,
also in Borno state. Two eyewitnesses in Konduga village told
Amnesty International that between 30 to 40 girls were abducted and
taken away by the gunmen during the attack on a government-run
secondary school in the village. The Chief Nursing Officer of the
General Hospital in Konduga was also reportedly kidnapped by the
gunmen.
Similar attacks have taken place in villages in Adamawa and Yobe
states, leaving scores dead, injured and forcibly displaced.
Nigeria's Security Forces Commit Human Rights Violations with
Impunity
Nigeria's security forces continue to commit serious human rights
violations in their response to Boko Haram. Since 2009, thousands
of people suspected of having links to Boko Haram have been extrajudicially
executed or unlawfully killed by the Nigerian army and
police. Hundreds more have been victims of enforced disappearances
and since 2012, thousands of suspects died in military and police
custody.
The JTF frequently conducts raids usually following attacks by Boko
Haram in which ordinary people are arrested en masse and detained
in military detention centres for lengthy periods, often without
charge or trial and without access to their families and lawyers.
...
In 2014, as attacks by Boko Haram intensified, the military has
responded by stepping up its operations against Boko Haram camps in
Borno state. In the first three months of the year, over 400
suspected Boko Haram members were killed in JTF raids and in
firefights during Boko Haram attacks on towns. 38 civilians have
also allegedly been killed by the military this year. In addition,
at least 150 detainees died in military custody.
...
Hundreds Unlawfully Killed by the Nigerian Security Forces on 14
March 2014
On Friday 14 March, at 7 am Boko Haram members attacked the Giwa
barracks in Maiduguri, Borno state and opened the cells to release
the more than 1,000 detainees, who were arrested under suspicion of
being members or sympathisers of Boko Haram. A video released by
Boko Haram shows gunmen entering the Giwa military barracks,
setting ablaze scores of vehicles in the compound, before releasing
hundreds of people, including women, children. Many of those
released looked frail and were barefooted.
Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that the attackers came
from a nearby village and crossed the Yedzaram River.
One resident in Mairi, Mallam Ibrahim1 described what he saw during
the attack: "On Friday morning around 7 to 7:30 in the morning, I
heard gunshots. I came out to the back of my house and saw gunmen
running towards the barracks. I live close to the barracks. We were
all scared. We knew the day is going to be very bad for all of us.
We stayed indoors with my family. The gunshots continued non-stop.
It took about an hour before we heard the fighter jet."
"A few minutes later, we saw lots of people coming towards our
house from the barracks. Many of them look hungry, barefooted and
were asking for water. Some did not even have full clothes on. We
came out and started helping them. We gave them water and some
fruits. We later took them to a classroom in the University of
Maiduguri. They were 56 in total. They told us they are all
detainees from Giwa," added Ibrahim.
...
Mallam Ibrahim and one other resident in Mairi told Amnesty
International that, less than an hour after the detainees left the
barracks, two Hilux trucks filled with government soldiers came to
the scene where the 56 former detainees were gathered. Mallam
Ibrahim said: "[The soldiers] asked all of us to leave the area.
The former detainees were all in the classroom. They started
screaming 'we are not Boko Haram. We are detainees!' I and my other
neighbours saw the soldiers take the former detainees to a nearby
place called 'no man's land,' behind the University of Maiduguri.
We stood there and watched while the soldiers opened fire and
killed the 56 people we had just given fruits and water. They were
shot and killed in front of us. All of them. Just like that."
[report continues with more details of killings by the security
forces in the wake of the attack]
...
According to reports received from eyewitnesses, family members,
lawyers and community activists, at least 622 people were killed by
the security forces on 14 March. The actual number could even be
higher.
...
Humanitarian Crisis and Impact of the Conflict on Civilian
Population
The ongoing fighting between Boko Haram and the Nigerian security
forces has had damaging impact on the lives of millions of people
across north-east Nigeria. The humanitarian situation in the region
has reached unprecedented levels.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to seek refuge in
neighbouring countries and thousands more have been made internally
displaced. According to the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR) "…the crisis in north-eastern Nigeria, exacerbated
by the declaration of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and
Adamawa States on 14 May 2013 (extended for six months on 12
November 2013), more than 520,000 people, mainly women, children
and elderly people have been forced to flee inside Nigeria or seek
refuge in neighbouring countries (Niger, Cameroon and Chad)."
On Tuesday 26 March 2014, the Director-General of the Nigerian
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said more than 250,000
people have been displaced as a result of the fighting in northeastern
Nigeria.
Nigerian Government's Failures to Address Impunity
Amnesty International has repeatedly urged the authorities to
conduct thorough and independent investigations into the alleged
human rights violations and abuses with a view to bringing
suspected perpetrators to justice in a fair trial.
Over the years, both State and Federal government have established
inquiries into acts of violence including communal and sectarian
violence in Nigeria's middlebelt, unlawful killings, poor
conditions in detentions and other instances of violations and
abuses, but their findings and recommendations have mostly not been
made public. Criminal investigations have been inadequate, with
serious doubts over the quality of evidence against those arrested.
In 2013, the committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to
investigate and explore options for bringing an end to the on-going
fighting in northern Nigeria submitted its report to the
Presidency. The findings of the Committee's report have not been
made public.
Following previous incidents of political, communal and sectarian
violence, scores of people were rounded up by the police and
security forces but few have been successfully prosecuted.
According to information received by Amnesty International,
previous commissions of inquiry into allegations of human rights
abuses have named suspected perpetrators, yet very few people are
aware of the content of these reports. In many cases, no criminal
investigation is initiated on suspected perpetrators. Victims of
violence have not received redress or reparation, including
compensation, leaving people destitute and further stoking feelings
of resentment and desperation. Victims and their families have a
right to know the truth about the abuse of their rights including
the identities of individuals or groups responsible for carrying
out or ordering violations.
As such, Amnesty International is urging the international
community, in collaboration with credible national civil society
organisations and the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria,
to set up an independent and international commission of enquiry
with a mandate to investigate grave human rights abuses and
violations that may constitute war crimes and crimes against
humanity committed in north-eastern Nigeria.
...
Curbing Violence in Nigeria (II): The Boko Haram Insurgency
International Crisis Group
3 Apr 2014
http://www.crisisgroup.org / direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/nnez94y
Executive Summary and Recommendations
Boko Haram's four-year-old insurgency has pitted neighbour against
neighbour, cost more than 4,000 lives, displaced close to half a
million, destroyed hundreds of schools and government buildings and
devastated an already ravaged economy in the North East, one of
Nigeria's poorest regions. It overstretches federal security
services, with no end in sight, spills over to other parts of the
north and risks reaching Niger and Cameroon, weak countries poorly
equipped to combat a radical Islamist armed group tapping into real
governance, corruption, impunity and underdevelopment grievances
shared by most people in the region.
Boko Haram is both a serious challenge and manifestation of more
profound threats to Nigeria's security. Unless the federal and
state governments, and the region, develop and implement
comprehensive plans to tackle not only insecurity but also the
injustices that drive much of the troubles, Boko Haram, or groups
like it, will continue to destabilise large parts of the country.
Yet, the government's response is largely military, and political
will to do more than that appears entirely lacking.
Most Nigerians are poorer today than they were at independence in
1960, victims of the resource curse and rampant, entrenched
corruption. Agriculture, once the economy's mainstay, is
struggling. In many parts of the country, the government is unable
to provide security, good roads, water, health, reliable power and
education. The situation is particularly dire in the far north.
Frustration and alienation drive many to join "self-help" ethnic,
religious, community or civic groups, some of which are hostile to
the state. It is in this environment that the group called Boko
Haram (usually translated loosely as "Western education is
forbidden") by outsiders emerged. It is an Islamic sect that
believes corrupt, false Muslims control northern Nigeria. The group
and fellow travellers want to remedy this by establishing an
Islamic state in the north with strict adherence to Sharia (Islamic
law).
Boko Haram's early leader, the charismatic preacher Mohammed Yusuf,
tried to do so non-violently. ...
Yusuf subsequently became increasingly critical of the government
and official corruption, his popularity soared, and the group
expanded into other states, including Bauchi, Yobe and Kano. ...
A series of clashes between Boko Haram members and police escalated
into an armed insurrection in 2009. Troops crushed the rebellion,
killing hundreds of followers and destroying the group's principal
mosque. Yusuf was captured, handed over to the police and shortly
thereafter extrajudicially executed.
Boko Haram went underground and a year later launched attacks on
police officers, police stations and military barracks, explicitly
in revenge for the killings of Yusuf and his comrades. Its
spokesman demanded prosecution of those responsible, release of
their detained colleagues, restoration of the mosque and
compensation for sect members killed by troops. Since 2010, the
group's campaign has grown, targeting not only security forces,
government officials and politicians, but also Christians, critical
Muslim clerics, traditional leaders, the UN presence, bars and
schools. Lately it has evolved into pure terrorism, with targeting
of students attending secular state schools, health workers
involved in polio vaccination campaigns and villages supporting the
government.
In May 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan declared an emergency in
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states and deployed additional troops that
with the help of vigilantes drove Boko Haram from most cities and
towns. He also established a committee to negotiate a settlement
with its leadership, with little success. On 18 March 2014,
National Security Advisor Mohammed Sambo Dasuki announced a "soft"
approach to addressing the root causes of terrorism, but it remains
to be seen whether and how it will be implemented.
...
Recommendations
To ensure greater human security in northern Nigeria, better
protection from Boko Haram attacks and a more law-abiding, better
resourced, professional security service
To Nigeria's Federal Government:
1. Discontinue heavy-handed military and police methods that risk
pushing yet more restless, jobless and frustrated youths into
violence and extremism.
2. Begin to address impunity (and a main Boko Haram demand) by
completing prosecution of the police officers alleged to have
extrajudicially executed Mohammed Yusuf; and investigate and
prosecute crimes allegedly committed by the security services,
government officials (state and federal) and Boko Haram members.
To state governments in the north:
3. Work with northern political,
traditional and religious elites to disarm, deradicalise and reintegrate
Islamist militants.
To Nigeria's international partners:
Regional
4. Continue to build bi- and multinational security ties and
networks in the region.
5. Intensify mixed patrols at Nigeria's borders to curtail the
movement of armed groups and criminals.
6. Share and exchange intelligence information on a more regular
basis.
Others
7. Encourage the federal government to work with northern
political, traditional and religious elites toward a political
solution to the Boko Haram problem. To switch from a mainly
military approach to the challenge from Boko Haram, and radicalism
in general, to one more attuned to root causes
To Nigeria's Federal Government:
8. Recognise that unless issues of bad governance and systemic
corruption are addressed vigorously and transparently, all other
measures will be nothing but stop-gaps.
9. Free up the necessary national resources to address sustained
economic hardship, rising inequality and social frustration by
expanding and strengthening the anti-corruption agencies, and
ensure they work effectively at state and local levels, free of
political manipulation.
10. Begin to tackle the root causes of growing radical Islamic and
ethnic militancy by fully developing and implementing a Far North
Development Commission, similar to the Niger Delta Development
Commission, with a mandate that includes coordinating antidesertification
campaigns, developing large-scale irrigation,
agriculture, power and road projects and promoting small businesses
that could create jobs for youths; and do so in a transparent,
consultative and accountable manner.
11. Take steps to change the climate of secrecy and fear around
radical Islam by encouraging greater public discussion on the
causes of and ways to address radicalism.
12. Accredit senior ambassadors and defence attachés to all
neighbouring countries and meet with them frequently to review the
domestic and transnational security situations. To state
governments in the north:
13. Reform the Quranic educational system by introducing a dual
curriculum (as in Kano) and paying teachers' salaries so as to
relieve pupils of the need to beg for their upkeep.
14. Use the Northern Governors' Forum to set high standards of
transparent and accountable state governance. To Nigeria's
international partners:
15. Support programs at all levels of government that address
poverty, youth unemployment and women's lack of empowerment.
16. Encourage and support the federal government to genuinely
implement a national policy of zero tolerance for corruption.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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