Faces of 108 missing Chibok girls sculpted in Clay in Nigeria Art Project

 

 

 

 

 

 

The faces of 108 Nigerian girls who are still missing eight years after they were kidnapped by Islamist insurgents have been sculpted in clay in a collaboration between an artist, a group of potters and university students.

The artwork, titled "Statues Also Breathe" and conceived by French artist Prune Nourry, consists of 108 life-size clay heads, made by 108 students from all over Nigeria, and now on display at an art gallery in Lagos.

Boko Haram militants abducted around 270 teenage girls from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014.

The mass kidnapping initially prompted worldwide outrage, with the slogan #BringBackOurGirls trending on social media and prominent figures including then U.S. first lady Michelle Obama pressing for their return.

Since then, about 160 of the girls have been released, some after years of captivity, but the story has faded from the headlines.

Nourry collected photos of the missing girls from their families and passed the images on to the students who created the sculptures at a one-day outdoor workshop on the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, southwest Nigeria.

A small group of women who were among the abducted girls and were later released took part, as did some parents of the missing women.

Nourry said it was a cathartic experience for all involved.

"For the students, for all of us who felt so useless when something so incredible happened and you cannot do anything about it, the fact of being able to at least give a little thing through sculpture, through what we know how to do, was healing," she said.

The young artists took inspiration from photos of Ife heads - terracotta sculptures made in the region centuries ago and considered to be among Nigeria's most significant cultural artefacts.

They used clay from the Ife area - the substance that, according to the Yoruba ethnic group's creation myth, was used to form humans - sourced by a community of local female potters, who also contributed to the creative process.

"These girls have been in distress for eight years," said Habiba Balogun, coordinator of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign in Lagos.

"I am really happy that a project like this has come up that is really going to elevate the level of discourse and understanding, and have a permanent record in the history of this our country about something tragic like this."

Reuters, by Estelle Shirbon

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US and UK warn of possible attack in Nigeria's capital

The United States and Britain on Sunday warned of a possible terrorist attack in Nigeria's federal capital Abuja, especially aimed at government buildings, places of worship and schools, among other targets.

Nigeria is fighting an Islamist insurgency mainly in the northeast, but in July the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a raid on a prison in Abuja, which freed around 440 inmates, raising fears that insurgents were venturing from their enclaves.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria said "there is an elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically Abuja" and added that shopping malls, law enforcement facilities and international organisations were among places at risk.

"The U.S. Embassy will offer reduced services until further notice," the embassy said in an alert to citizens in Nigeria.

The United Kingdom government warned that its citizens in Nigeria should stay alert due to an "increased threat of terrorist attack in Abuja."

"Attacks could be indiscriminate and could affect western interests, as well as places visited by tourists," it said.

Insecurity, which has spread across Nigeria, is a major issue for voters when they go to the polls next February to elect a new president to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigeria's foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available to comment.

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

Reuters

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Women, children drown fleeing attack in Nigeria’s north

Several women and children drowned while trying to escape an armed attack in Nigeria’s troubled northern region, residents and a government official said Thursday.

The victims died when their boats capsized while fleeing an hours-long assault by unidentified gunmen Wednesday night on the Birnin Waje community in Zamfara state, said Ibrahim Zauma, a resident.

“The situation is dire because most of the people have run away from their homes. The dead bodies recovered so far is 13,” Zauma said.

It was not clear how many people might have drowned, but many who fled their homes had not returned to the area, which residents said remained volatile more than 24 hours after the violence.

Ibrahim Bello, a Zamfara government spokesman, confirmed the attack, saying that “an unknown number of mostly women and children got drowned” as they sought to escape in two boats.

He did not say whether any arrests had been made.

The attack was the latest in a cycle of violence by armed groups targeting remote communities in Nigeria’s northwest and central regions.

Authorities often blame the attacks on a group of mostly young pastoralists from the Fulani tribe caught up in Nigeria’s conflict between communities and herdsmen over limited access to water and land.

The deadly clashes between local communities and the herdsmen have defied government measures seeking to quell the violence, although security forces have recently announced some arrests and seizure of arms.

Nigeria’s security forces are outnumbered and outgunned in many of the affected communities while authorities also continue to fight a decade-long insurgency launched by Islamist extremist rebels in the northeast.

By Chinedu Asadu

AP

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Cameroon, Nigeria Reopening Border Markets and Schools with Boko Haram Threat Diminished

Governors from Cameroon and Nigeria plan to re-open markets and rebuild schools along their shared border after declaring the area free of Boko Haram militants.

Babagana Umara Zulum, governor of Nigeria’s Borno state, said President Muhammadu Buhari instructed governors of border states affected by Boko Haram to work with neighboring countries to improve living conditions.

He said governors from Cameroon and Nigeria will reopen border markets and rebuild schools in towns and villages where Boko Haram has been defeated.

"We are doing everything possible to ensure that the Banki market is reestablished," Babagana said. "The bringing of cattle from the Republic of Chad to Cameroon, to Nigeria had stopped. My humble self and the governor will go and reopen the cattle route from Gamboru-Ngala. It will improve the economy of Nigeria and improve the economy of Cameroon. By September, we shall be going to Chad and Niger to see how we can improve on our bilateral relationships."

Babagana spoke by a messaging app from Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria's Borno state on Thursday after meeting a delegation led by Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon's Far North Region.

He said the Gamboru-Ngala cattle market, which is the largest in northeast Nigeria, was shut down in May 2014 after Boko Haram fighters massacred 300 civilians and abducted 200 people. The market is near Nigeria's border with Cameroon.

Bakari, who is also chairman of the Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum, says he was asked by Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, to visit border localities where Boko Haram has been eliminated.

Bakari said President Biya dispatched his minister of public works to make sure that border roads in areas where Boko Haram has been defeated are repaired to boost cross border trade. He said the Banki market is among several dozen near the Cameroon-Nigeria border that want to collectively reopen.

Bakari said the border markets and schools that were destroyed by Boko Haram will be reopened before December.

He said he had fruitful meetings this week in Nigeria with the governor of Yobe and Borno states. Both states say Boko Haram attacks have been greatly reduced and people can resume their activities.

Cameroon says peace has also returned to a majority of its northern border with Nigeria.

In June the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission said its troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad killed more than 800 jihadis in about two months of fighting on the Cameroon-Nigeria border.
The task force was constituted in 2015 to fight Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Cameroon and Nigeria say there is an increase in the number of Boko Haram militants surrendering at disarmament centers since May of 2021 when Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Islamist group, was declared killed.

Last week, President Buhari visited Borno state, the former epicenter of Nigeria's Islamist insurgency, and formally opened 500 units of newly built resettlement houses for people internally displaced by the 13-year Boko Haram conflict.
The United Nations says more than 37,000 people have been killed and about 2.8 million people displaced by the Boko Haram uprising that began in 2009.

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka

VOA

Forgotten bomb kills 13 scrap scavengers in northeast Nigeria

Thirteen scrap-metal collectors in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state have died after a bomb they excavated blew up, security sources told AFP.

Sixteen metal scavengers from a displaced persons’ camp in Bama found the bomb while digging for scrap on Monday in the bush on the outskirts of town.

“The bomb exploded as they were pushing it in a cart toward the town, killing 13 and seriously injuring three,” Babakura Kolo, a leader in a local militia, said on Tuesday.

Kolo said the ordnance had apparently been dropped in 2015 during military operations to retake Bama from the Boko Haram armed group.

“It was dormant for seven years and buried in the sand but they managed to dig it out, not knowing it was a bomb,” said a second militia leader, Bukar Grema, who gave the same toll.

Nigeria’s military is battling to end a 13-year conflict spearheaded by armed groups like Boko Haram in the country’s northeast. It has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced 2.2 million more.

Boko Haram seized Bama in 2014 when they took over swaths of territory in northern Borno and declared a so-called caliphate.

In March 2015, Nigerian troops aided by Chadian soldiers clawed back most of the territory after months-long intensive ground and aerial operations.

Residents who had fled the town returned three years later, with many of them living in displaced camps as the town was substantially destroyed during the fighting to retake it.

Most of the displaced who live in camps rely on food handouts from aid agencies, forcing many to turn to felling trees in the arid region for firewood and scavenging for metal scraps they sell to buy food.

Armed groups have been targeting scrap collectors, accusing them of spying for troops and the militia fighting them.

Last month, fighters from the ISIL-linked Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group killed 10 scavengers in Goni Kurmi village near Bama where they had gone looking for metal, a week after they killed 23 collectors in nearby Dikwa district.

AFP

Video - UN chief asks for safe return conditions for Nigeria’s displaced

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the safe and “dignified” return of people displaced by conflict in northeast Nigeria, as local authorities close camps and urge people to go back to their communities. More than 40,000 people have been killed and some 2.2 million people displaced by more than a decade of fighting in the region between the military and Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). During a Tuesday visit to a camp for displaced people in Borno state capital Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, Guterres praised the local governor’s development efforts.

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At least ten people have been killed by suspected Islamist insurgents, Boko Haram in Nigeria.

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Aid agencies are warning of a growing humanitarian crisis in northwest Nigeria. A decade of fighting over resources has left hundreds of thousands without food, shelter and medicine. This comes amid regular attacks on villages by armed gangs. Al Jazeera's @Ahmed Idris reports from Zamfara state, Nigeria.

Video - How can 'bandit' attacks be stopped in northern Nigeria?

 

Armed groups have terrorised people in northern Nigeria for years. The 'bandits' burn down villages, steal cattle and kidnap people for ransom. The government appears to be struggling to stop a rise in attacks. Gunmen killed least 200 people in Zamfara state on Tuesday, in an apparent retaliation against military air strikes on the armed groups' hideouts. So what can be done to stop the assaults? Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom Guests: Mike Ejiofor - Former Director of Nigeria's State Security Service Bulama Bukarti - Analyst, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change Aliyu Musa - Independent researcher on conflict and Nigerian politics

Video - Nigerian Army kills 22 Boko Haram terrorists, lost 6 soldiers

 

Nigerian Army authorities have said 22 terrorists were killed when troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force engaged Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists around Mallam Fatori Town in the Lake Chad region. They, however, added that six soldiers were also killed during the engagement.

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Nigeria's northeastern Borno State is offering free vocational training in an effort to reduce youth unemployment. Borno has been the epicentre of Nigeria's more than decade-long conflict with Boko Haram fighters.

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The surrender of hundreds of Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria’s northeast is causing anxiety in Borno state. The government says it will rehabilitate and reintegrate the former fighters into society. But the plan has divided people who have suffered unimaginable atrocities during the 12-year conflict. In the last two months, about 6,000 fighters and their families surrendered due to renewed ground and aerial offensive by Nigerian troops. Hundreds of thousands have already been returned to their towns and villages to homes being rebuilt by the government. For now, officials seem determined to speed up the process of rebuilding trust - hoping it could break Boko Haram’s fighting spirit and bring lasting peace. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reports from Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Dozens killed and abducted in Nigeria’s north

At least 32 people have been killed in Nigeria’s north after armed groups attacked remote communities in 2 states, authorities said, the latest incident in a spiraling cycle of violence in Africa’s most populous country.

Local officials and residents told The Associated Press that the killings and the abduction of 24 persons in Niger and Sokoto states were carried out by the marauding gunmen operating across the northwest and central parts of Nigeria who are notorious for abducting hundreds of school children and travelers for ransom.

The attacks happened barely 48 hours after about 40 persons were killed in the northern region in what residents said could be a part of a prolonged religious conflict between Muslim and Christian communities in Kaduna state.

In the north central Niger state, assailants attacked Muya local government area on Tuesday morning, killing 14 people and abducting seven women, according to Garba Mohammed, the chairman of Munya LGA. The police spokesperson confirmed the incident to the AP but said he had no further details.

“These bandits invaded one of the communities around 2 a.m. yesterday, set the houses ablaze, burnt the people in their rooms while some of them (the attackers) were standing outside; those trying to escape were caught and slaughtered,” said Mohammed.

After the raid in Kachiwe, the assailants went to two more communities nearby, killing 2 persons they saw on their way before killing 16 more residents, the official added.

Mohammed said the gunmen took advantage of the blockade of telecommunications access. Authorities imposed the block to stem the exchange of information between gunmen and local residents who were acting as informants.

During a similar attack in the northwest Sokoto state, 17 persons were abducted from their homes in Sabon Birni local government area, according to Amina Al-Mustapha, the state lawmaker from the affected area.

The bandits attacked the Gatawa community in the neighboring country Niger on Tuesday, less than a week after earlier attacking the area and killing 22 persons mostly security operatives,

“We are under bandits now; We are suffering now,” the lawmaker said, adding that “at least 60%” of about 500,000 residents in Sabon Birni have fled the community, some taking refuge in Niger Republic which is just about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away.

Violent attacks by the assailants known locally as bandits are common across the northwest and central parts of Nigeria, especially in remote communities where there is no adequate security presence.

Authorities have said that special military operations targeted at restoring peace in the troubled states have been yielding results with dozens of the assailants often killed when their hideouts in abandoned forest reserves are bombarded.

But Nigeria’s security operatives, especially those operating in violence hotspots, are still outnumbered by the gunmen who often raid communities in their hundreds. The assailants are made up of various groups and security analysts have said they are mostly young men from the Fulani ethnic group who had traditionally worked as nomadic cattle herders and are caught up in a decades-long conflict with Hausa farming communities over access to water and grazing land.

In Sokoto state, lawmaker Al-Mustapha told AP that the Sabon Birni area had five military bases as of last year, but “now, we have only one in the entire with security operatives present,” with the others abandoned after suffering attacks.

By Chinedu Asadu

AP

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Nigeria’s military is increasingly confident in its fight against Boko Haram, as growing numbers of members surrender. But victims of the armed movement in the country’s northeast are nervous about reintegration programmes that aim to return former adherents to mainstream society. At least 10,000 people linked to Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), have given themselves up in recent weeks, the Nigerian army says. 

Those surrendering range from combatants to abductees coerced into working for the groups. The pace of defections from Boko Haram, which is fighting to impose its own interpretation of Islamic law on the northeast and is behind a wave of mass kidnappings, has increased since the reported death in May of the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau and the subsequent rise of ISWAP. Hundreds of former low-level members of Boko Haram are now undertaking government "deradicalisation" programmes to reintegrate them to civilian life, with authorities also providing support to family members of surrendered fighters. 

Supporters of state-run rehabilitation initiatives such as Operation Safe Corridor say they tempt fighters to give themselves up, and could help end a 12-year war between Nigerian government forces and insurgent groups that the UN estimates has killed about 350,000 people. But many people who have borne the brunt of Boko Haram attacks and exploitation are questioning the government’s decision to host surrendered fighters in a compound in Maiduguri - where Boko Haram originated. They have doubts about the sincerity of those who have given themselves up and say the rehabilitation schemes allow Boko Haram followers to get away with their crimes. Hundreds of thousands of people who remain displaced and dispossessed due to Boko Haram attacks are urging the government to ensure that victims are also supported. In this episode of The Stream we’ll look at the challenges in rehabilitating former Boko Haram fighters as victims maintain their call for justice.

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Education in Nigeria’s northern Borno state, the region at the heart of years of Boko Haram violence, is getting back on track. With new schools now built, enrollment is increasing but because facilities cannot be built in areas where Boko Haram is still active, thousands of children still have no schools to go to. Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris reports from Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Nigeria jihadist infighting kills scores in Lake Chad

Infighting between Nigeria's two major jihadist factions has left scores dead, raising the possibility of a prolonged internecine conflict between the two forces, civilian and security sources told AFP Tuesday.

Islamic State West Africa Province or ISWAP has emerged as the dominant faction in Nigeria's conflict, especially after the death of rival Boko Haram commander Abubakar Shekau in May during infighting between the groups.

His death marked a major shift in the grinding 12-year insurgency that has left 40,000 people dead, but security sources say Shekau loyalists have held out against ISWAP's bid to consolidate.

Boko Haram jihadists on Monday launched an attack on rival ISWAP militants on the Nigerian side of Lake Chad, ISWAP's bastion, seizing a strategic island, fishermen and a security source said.

Large numbers of heavily armed Boko Haram insurgents in speed boats invaded Kirta Wulgo island after dislodging ISWAP security checkpoints in an hours-long fight, those sources said.

- 'Mutually destructive fight' -

The seizure of Kirta Wulgo would be a huge setback to ISWAP as the island served as a port for importing weapons and supplies into its territory, according to security sources and local fishermen.

"It was a mutually destructive fight that lasted for more than nine hours, from 4 pm yesterday to early hours of this morning," said one fisherman in the area.

He could not give a figure for casualties, but his account was backed by two other fishermen in the region.

A local security source confirmed the clashes to AFP.

According to the security source, Boko Haram mobilised its fighters from camps in Gegime and Kwatar Mota on the Niger side of the lake and Kaiga-Kindjiria on the Chadian side.

"They gathered at Tumbun Ali island in the Nigerian side of the lake and dislodged six ISWAP checkpoints before taking over Kirta Wulgo," the security source said.

"It was a deadly fight. We are talking of more than 100 dead," the source said.

ISWAP split from Boko Haram in 2016 and rose to become the dominant jihadist group, focusing on attacking military bases and ambushing troops.

The two factions turned staunch enemies since the split and regularly fight for dominance.

Since Shekau's death in May following infighting with ISWAP militants in his Sambisa forest enclave, ISWAP has been fighting Boko Haram remnants who have refused to pay allegiance to it to consolidate its grip in the northeast.

More than two million people have been displaced by Nigeria's conflict since it began in 2009, and the violence has spread over the borders to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

- Battles to come -

After Shekau's death, Boko Haram rebels led by Bakoura Buduma, a former Shekau lieutenant, fled Sambisa to the territory under his control in Niger's Gegime-Bosso axis of Lake Chad, according to security sources.

Last month Boko Haram suffered heavy casualties in a failed bid to invade Kirta Wulgo where they were beaten back by ISWAP, two sources in the area told AFP.

"This is just the beginning of an internecine battle between the two factions. It'll be a battle to the finish," said the local security source.

Boko Haram may want to assert their presence on the Nigerian side of the lake to get its share of fishing revenues accruing to ISWAP from levies on Nigerian fishermen.

With this sudden setback, ISWAP may look to push out the invading Boko Haram militants.

Boko Haram is now within striking distance from ISWAP's major strongholds of Sabon Tumbu, Jibillaram and Kwalleram, according to a source familiar with the area.

"ISWAP leader Abu Musab Al-Barnawi is known to reside in Sabon Tumbu where high-profile captured Boko Haram commanders are being held," the source said.

Al-Barnawi's deputy lives in Jibillaram along with other high-profile lieutenants while Sigir and Kusuma islands close to Kirta Wulgo house many of the group's senior commanders.

"All these islands are now under Boko Haram threat," the source said.

"ISWAP would use every means to ensure their safety from Boko Haram fighters who would go to any length to see they fall under their control."

AFP

Video - Boko Haram victim recounts time in captivity

The Boko Haram insurgency has lasted for over a decade. The group began launching attacks in northern Nigeria. Beyond carrying out the devastating attacks, the group also kidnapped hundreds of girls and students. We talked to one of their victims, Fatima Buba Saleh. She spent years in captivity, before she was able to escape with her child.

Officers killed in attack on Nigeria’s elite military academy

Gunmen have attacked Nigeria’s elite military academy, killing two officers and kidnapping another in a brazen assault on a symbol of the armed forces.

The raid on Tuesday on the Nigerian Defence Academy, the country’s main officer training school, is a major blow for a military already struggling with an armed uprising and heavily armed criminal gangs.

“The security architecture of the Nigerian Defence Academy was compromised early this morning by unknown gunmen,” said Major Bashir Muhammad Jajira, spokesman for the academy in the northwestern state of Kaduna.

“We lost two personnel and one was abducted.”

Various army units and security agencies were pursuing the attackers and trying to rescue the kidnap victim, Jajira said.

The high-security base, located just outside the state capital Kaduna, trains Nigerian officers and also cadets from other African militaries.

No group claimed responsibility, but Nigeria is facing a threat from rebels and large criminal gangs that raid villages, steal cattle and carry out mass kidnappings for ransom.

Attacks and kidnappings have surged in recent months, especially in north-central and northwest Nigeria, partly driven by economic hardship linked to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and by the impunity enjoyed by most perpetrators.

Kaduna state, located north of the federal capital Abuja, has been the scene of mass abductions at schools and other acts of violence against communities, along with other states such as Niger, Zamfara and Katsina.

The Nigerian government has said it is winning the battle against the criminals it describes as bandits.

However, many Nigerians have stopped travelling through rural areas for fear of being abducted, many pupils have dropped out of school, and many parents are driven to desperate measures to raise ransoms to have their kidnapped children freed.

Al Jazeera

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Bandits release 15 students after parents pay ransom

Bandits have released 15 more students kidnapped last month from a Baptist school in northwest Nigeria, officials said.

School administrator Reverend John Hayab told Reuters news agency on Sunday that parents had raised and paid an undisclosed ransom to free the students, who were among more than 100 taken on July 5 from the Bethel Baptist High School.

“The students are already being released and would be handed over to their parents any moment from now,” Hayab said.

Hayab had previously said the abductors were seeking 1 million naira ($2,430) per student.

So far, 56 of the kidnapped Bethel students have been released or escaped from their abductors.

“We still have 65 more of our students with the bandits and we are working to see they can be freed,” Hayab told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Kaduna state’s commissioner for internal security, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the release but did not immediately comment on the ransom payment.

The Bethel abduction was part of a string of kidnappings by armed gangs known locally as bandits who have long terrorised northwest and central Nigeria, looting, stealing cattle and kidnapping for ransom.

About 1,000 students have been kidnapped since December after gangs started to target schools and colleges. Most have been released after negotiations.

But many hostages remain captive, including more than 136 children abducted in June from an Islamic seminary in Tegina in central Niger State, four of whom have died in captivity.

On Friday, the gangs asked the seminary to send clothing for the schoolchildren who have been in the same clothes for months, according to one of the parents.

“They phoned the head of the school and told him to ask parents to send the children new clothes as the ones they have been wearing are in shreds,” Maryam Mohammed, whose seven children are among the hostages, told AFP.

Last week, nine pupils of an Islamic seminary were also seized by motorcycle-riding attackers in Katsina State, the second such incident in as many months.

President Muhammadu Buhari in February called on state governments to stop paying bandits, and Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai publicly refuses to pay.

But desperate parents and communities often raise and pay ransoms themselves.

Al Jazeera

Related story: Kidnapped Nigeria Chibok girl free after seven years