17, December 2018
Nigeria: Farmer-herder clashes left over 3,600 people dead in 2 years 0
Amnesty International says clashes between farmers and semi-nomadic herders in Nigeria have left more than 3,600 people dead since 2016. The UK-based rights group, in a report on Monday,documented an upsurge in communal violence involving chiefly Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers fighting over land and water rights.
“The Nigerian authorities’ failure to investigate communal clashes and bring perpetrators to justice has fuelled a bloody escalation in the conflict between farmers and herders across the country, resulting in at least 3,641 deaths in the past three years and the displacement of thousands more,” Amnesty said.
The report said 310 attacks had been recorded between January 2016 and October 2018, most of them in 2018. “These attacks were well planned and coordinated, with the use of weapons like machine guns and AK-47 rifles,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty’s Nigeria director.
“Yet, little has been done by the authorities in terms of prevention, arrests and prosecutions, even when information about the suspected perpetrators was available,” she said.
An international rights group urges the International Criminal Court to launch a full-blown probe into the atrocities committed during the Boko Haram terror group’s campaign of violence in Nigeria.
Experts say climate change and expanding agriculture have aggravated the herder-farmer conflict over land and water. The International Crisis Group said in July that the farmer-herder conflict killed six times more people than the war with the Boko Haram terror group in the first half of 2018,
Ojigho further said, “In some places, because of the failures of the security forces, competition over resources is used as a pretext to kill and maim along ethnic or religious lines.”
“The conflict has also been dangerously politicized by some state government officials who have inflamed tensions by embarking on a blame game along political party lines,” she said.
The latest report could affect the results of the upcoming elections, in which President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a new term. Buhari has been under fire for adopting a soft position on the herders, who come – like the president — from the Fulani ethnic group.
The administration of Buhari, who came to power on a pledge to eradicate militancy and corruption, has also been under scrutiny for failing to end the Boko Haram terror group’s campaign of violence in Nigeria’s restive northeast.
Abuja announced in 2015 that Boko Haram – which is affiliated to the Takfiri Daesh terror group, had been “largely defeated” in the northeast, but a multitude of Boko Haram attacks indicate the group’s active presence in that region.
In the latest instance of violence, Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday stormed a village near the city of Maiduguri, Borno State, firing indiscriminately and setting fire to homes there overnight. It was not clear if there were any casualties in the attack, which forced hundreds of people to flee.
A military source said troops and fighter jets were deployed to the scene and pushed out the militants after a “fierce battle.” Boko Haram has in recent months launched numerous attacks in a bid to capture Maiduguri, the birthplace of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf.
Over the past few years, at least27,000 have been killed and more than two million people displaced from theirhomes by Boko Haram.
Source: Presstv
26, December 2018
Boko Haram kills 13 soldiers, a policeman in Nigeria 0
Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists ambushed a military convoy in northeastern Nigeria, killing 13 soldiers and a policeman, the army said Wednesday.
But an officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militants had overrun an army base, and put the death toll at 18.
An army statement said the attackers ambushed a military convoy late Monday on a highway linking Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, with Damaturu in neighboring Yobe state.
“Sadly, 13 military and a police personnel… paid the supreme price while extricating themselves from the ambush,” said the statement, signed by local military spokesman Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu.
The attack followed an attempted raid on a nearby military base along the highway in Kukareta village, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Damaturu, Nwachukwu said.
That attack was “repelled” by troops who “engaged and overpowered the terrorists, killing several of them”, Nwachukwu said, adding that a soldier was injured.
Other security sources said fighters travelling in eight trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns had overrun the base.
“The terrorists killed 17 soldiers in the attack, which lasted for more than an hour,” an officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“They took over the military base after overpowering troops and burnt it down. A policeman was killed when their vehicle which was heading to Damaturu ran into crossfire but the driver escaped unhurt,” the military source said.
A medic in Damaturu hospital said 18 bodies were taken to the morgue late Monday.
A civilian militiaman in the area gave a similar account and said the fighters withdrew after torching the base.
“They burnt the base and two military vehicles. They also burnt two primary schools in Kukareta and neighboring Ngaurawa village,” said the militiaman.
Boko Haram extremists have carried out dozens of attacks on military bases in recent months. Scores of soldiers have been killed or listed as missing.
The 120-kilometre (75-mile) Maiduguri-Damaturu highway has seen repeated attacks, including raids on military bases and markets.
In September 2013, Boko Haram fighters disguised as soldiers barricaded the highway and killed 167 people, in the worst attack targeting motorists.
The nine-year-long insurgency has killed 27,000 people and displaced two million more, creating a dire humanitarian crisis.
The conflict has spilled over into Nigeria’s northern neighbors Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
(Source: AFP)