Friday, May 25, 2018
Video - Conflict in northern Nigeria partly linked to climate change
The African Union's Peace and Security Council is due to discuss the link between climate change and conflict in Africa. The problem's particularly acute in Nigeria, and has been blamed for the growing deadly conflict between herders and farmers, in recent months.
Survivors of Boko Haram starved and raped by Nigerian military
Shortly after Halima* arrived at a displacement camp in northeast Nigeria, a soldier approached her offering chicken and yams. Halima recognised him as one of the men who had beaten her husband and taken him into detention. For days, she had barely eaten so she accepted the food out of desperation. When the soldier returned demanding sex in exchange for the food, Halima was too scared to say "no".
"The soldiers are kings. When you see them, everybody is afraid", said Halima, who arrived at the Bama Hospital camp in late 2015. "They decide, they say nobody should complain. So, I did what he wanted."
Halima is one of thousands of women who, after surviving the brutal rule of the armed group Boko Haram, found themselves trapped in a nightmarish system of sexual violence and exploitation at the hands of the Nigerian military.
A new report by Amnesty International, "They Betrayed Us", documents the plight of women who were forced from their homes, separated from their husbands and confined to remote "satellite camps" in the northeast of Nigeria.
With hunger rife in the camps, military personnel and the militia members working with them used their authority and access to food and other basic necessities to coerce women into sex, which amounts to rape under international law. The soldiers sometimes used force if the women resisted.
Hauwa* told us she was raped on several occasions by a militia member after arriving at Bama Hospital Camp. She described being hemmed in by sexual violence and starvation.
"I arrived with 130 other women and children [in early 2016]. Hunger and thirst [killed] 58 from our group in the first four months," Hauwa said.
"You'll see a military man with food in the hand and he'd say, 'If you like me, take this food'. If you accept the food, later, he'd come back to you to have intercourse. If you refuse, he'd rape you [using physical force]."
Amnesty International has collected evidence that thousands of people have starved to death in these camps, mostly in late 2015 and in 2016. Almost half of the women we spoke to in one camp, Bama Hospital camp, said that one or more of their children had died.
While the daily deaths have now abated as humanitarian assistance has scaled up, many women are still restricted from leaving the camps and sometimes go days without food. In these conditions, sexual exploitation has thrived.
Since 2012, when Boko Haram started attacking civilians in northeast Nigeria, Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced abuses carried out by the armed group, which has committed massacres, launched car bomb and gun attacks in cities and abducted thousands of people.
But the crimes committed by Boko Haram must not blind the outside world to the widespread abuses carried out by the Nigerian military, which is responsible for arbitrary detention, torture and thousands of unlawful killings.
Rape and sexual violence are just one of the numerous injustices women have faced at the hands of the military. They described their villages being burned down in military operations and being ordered to leave, and being starved and beaten in the camps while their husbands and sons were detained.
Treated with suspicion by soldiers simply because they lived under Boko Haram's control, hundreds of women and girls were also detained and transferred to military detention facilities such as the Giwa barracks, where Amnesty International has documented the deaths of at least 37 women and children since 2015 due to the appalling conditions.
"They asked us women where our husbands were, then they flogged us with sticks. They beat my children and said they are Boko Haram children ... I was pregnant at the time," said 25-year-old Zara, who spent two years in Giwa barracks with her children, and gave birth unassisted in an overcrowded cell.
Some women detained for being so-called "Boko Haram wives" told us that they had been abducted by the armed group and forcibly married to a member. During subsequent military interrogations, they were beaten into silence as they tried to explain this to the soldiers.
For too long, Nigeria's allies - including the United States and the UK - have been content to condemn the terrible crimes committed by Boko Haram while giving the Nigerian military a free pass. Even UN humanitarian agencies working on the ground, where abuses are often committed in plain sight, have done little to challenge the confinement of women to militarised camps and the outrageous levels of sexual violence perpetrated by security forces within them.
Last year, the acting president of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, established a Presidential Investigation Panel to review the army's compliance with human rights obligations, but so far there has been no action and the situation for women in the camps remains bleak.
Yet, against all odds, these women bravely continue their fight for justice including the return of their husbands and sons. In September 2017, hundreds of displaced women lined the streets waiting to tell their stories to the president's investigation panel. They had drawn up lists of their loved ones in detention, or of those who died in the camps.
As one of these women told us, "This has happened to us. It cannot be undone now. But the government should recognise it. They should know how we suffered and how we died. They should make sure it does not happen again."
* Names were changed to protect the women' identities.
"The soldiers are kings. When you see them, everybody is afraid", said Halima, who arrived at the Bama Hospital camp in late 2015. "They decide, they say nobody should complain. So, I did what he wanted."
Halima is one of thousands of women who, after surviving the brutal rule of the armed group Boko Haram, found themselves trapped in a nightmarish system of sexual violence and exploitation at the hands of the Nigerian military.
A new report by Amnesty International, "They Betrayed Us", documents the plight of women who were forced from their homes, separated from their husbands and confined to remote "satellite camps" in the northeast of Nigeria.
With hunger rife in the camps, military personnel and the militia members working with them used their authority and access to food and other basic necessities to coerce women into sex, which amounts to rape under international law. The soldiers sometimes used force if the women resisted.
Hauwa* told us she was raped on several occasions by a militia member after arriving at Bama Hospital Camp. She described being hemmed in by sexual violence and starvation.
"I arrived with 130 other women and children [in early 2016]. Hunger and thirst [killed] 58 from our group in the first four months," Hauwa said.
"You'll see a military man with food in the hand and he'd say, 'If you like me, take this food'. If you accept the food, later, he'd come back to you to have intercourse. If you refuse, he'd rape you [using physical force]."
Amnesty International has collected evidence that thousands of people have starved to death in these camps, mostly in late 2015 and in 2016. Almost half of the women we spoke to in one camp, Bama Hospital camp, said that one or more of their children had died.
While the daily deaths have now abated as humanitarian assistance has scaled up, many women are still restricted from leaving the camps and sometimes go days without food. In these conditions, sexual exploitation has thrived.
Since 2012, when Boko Haram started attacking civilians in northeast Nigeria, Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced abuses carried out by the armed group, which has committed massacres, launched car bomb and gun attacks in cities and abducted thousands of people.
But the crimes committed by Boko Haram must not blind the outside world to the widespread abuses carried out by the Nigerian military, which is responsible for arbitrary detention, torture and thousands of unlawful killings.
Rape and sexual violence are just one of the numerous injustices women have faced at the hands of the military. They described their villages being burned down in military operations and being ordered to leave, and being starved and beaten in the camps while their husbands and sons were detained.
Treated with suspicion by soldiers simply because they lived under Boko Haram's control, hundreds of women and girls were also detained and transferred to military detention facilities such as the Giwa barracks, where Amnesty International has documented the deaths of at least 37 women and children since 2015 due to the appalling conditions.
"They asked us women where our husbands were, then they flogged us with sticks. They beat my children and said they are Boko Haram children ... I was pregnant at the time," said 25-year-old Zara, who spent two years in Giwa barracks with her children, and gave birth unassisted in an overcrowded cell.
Some women detained for being so-called "Boko Haram wives" told us that they had been abducted by the armed group and forcibly married to a member. During subsequent military interrogations, they were beaten into silence as they tried to explain this to the soldiers.
For too long, Nigeria's allies - including the United States and the UK - have been content to condemn the terrible crimes committed by Boko Haram while giving the Nigerian military a free pass. Even UN humanitarian agencies working on the ground, where abuses are often committed in plain sight, have done little to challenge the confinement of women to militarised camps and the outrageous levels of sexual violence perpetrated by security forces within them.
Last year, the acting president of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, established a Presidential Investigation Panel to review the army's compliance with human rights obligations, but so far there has been no action and the situation for women in the camps remains bleak.
Yet, against all odds, these women bravely continue their fight for justice including the return of their husbands and sons. In September 2017, hundreds of displaced women lined the streets waiting to tell their stories to the president's investigation panel. They had drawn up lists of their loved ones in detention, or of those who died in the camps.
As one of these women told us, "This has happened to us. It cannot be undone now. But the government should recognise it. They should know how we suffered and how we died. They should make sure it does not happen again."
* Names were changed to protect the women' identities.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Video - Nigeria awards rail construction contract to Chinese company
The Nigerian government has awarded a six-point-seven billion dollar contract to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. This is for work on a major segment of a railway linking the country's commercial hub Lagos and Kano in the north. When completed, the line is expected to effectively link the country's south to the north via rail and boost commercial activities.
Nigerian army accused of raping women rescued from Boko Haram
Women and girls who have fled terrorist group Boko Haram are being raped by Nigerian soldiers, starved and forced to exchange food for sex, according to claims in a new report by human rights group Amnesty International.
Thousands of these women have died because of lack of food in camps for internally displaced people in Nigeria's northeast after they were rescued from Boko Haram, Amnesty says.
In the report titled "They betrayed us," it is alleged that five women said they were raped by soldiers in late 2015 and early 2016 in a displacement camp in Bama, Borno state.
'Boko Haram wives'
Women interviewed by Amnesty said they were beaten and called "Boko Haram wives" by security officials whenever they complained about their treatment.
The report says that members of the Nigerian military and a local vigilante group Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) "separated women from their husbands and confined them in remote 'satellite camps' where they were raped, sometimes in exchange for food."
Ten women in the Bama camp told Amnesty they were forced to date security officials to get food. One woman said a member of the JTF vigilante group raped her after he brought her food, telling her: "I gave you these things, if you want them, we have to be husband and wife."
"Sex in these highly coercive circumstances is always rape, even when physical force is not used, and Nigerian soldiers and civilian JTF members have been getting away it," Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria said.
"They act like they don't risk sanction, but the perpetrators and their superiors who have allowed this to go unchallenged have committed crimes under international law and must be held to account."
Deadly terror group
Boko Haram, described as the third deadliest terror group by the Global Terrorism Index, has unleashed waves of brutal attacks across parts of northern Nigeria, bombing schools, churches and mosques and kidnapping women and children in a conflict that spans nearly a decade.
The conflict has killed thousands of people and also internally displaced two million people, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
However, the Nigerian army claims it has technically defeated Boko Haram and retaken territories seized by the militant group in the northeast.
Members of its troops recently rescued 1,000 hostages, mostly women and children, from the militant's camps in Borno State, it said.
Hundreds of women along with their children have been held in overcrowded centers in northern Nigeria since 2015.
Amnesty said it had collected evidence that thousands of people have starved to death in displacement camps since 2015.
In the report, the women alleged that 15 to 30 people died each day between 2015 and 2016 due to lack of food in these camps.
The human rights group said satellite images of an expanding graveyard in one of the camps during the time confirmed their testimonies.
In a 2016 report, another rights group, Human Rights Watch, said it had documented 43 cases of sexual violence against women by soldiers in displacement camps in northern Nigeria, forcing the Nigeria government to investigate.
Propaganda
Nigerian army spokesman John Agim denied the allegations in the Amnesty report, branding them "propaganda."
He said the army hasn't been deployed to displacement camps, which he said are run by the police, local vigilante groups and NGOs. "I wonder where Amnesty interviewed women who said they saw soldiers in these camps hoarding food and raping women?" Agim asked.
Agim accused the human rights group of republishing claims that had been investigated by the Nigerian government and had been found to be false.
"Amnesty wrote the same allegations in a report in 2015 and it was investigated then and found not to be true. Why are they presenting them in 2018 after investigations? It is all propaganda and when they continue to propagate these reports, it assumes the property of truth when its not refuted," Agim told CNN.
"Amnesty does not want our war against terrorism to finish; the Nigerian military maintains this position," he said. "Their reports on human right violations is to stop the selling of weapons to the Nigerian military by the American government and others and that approach is not working."
"The Nigerian army just rescued 1,000 Boko Haram captives, that is a good development, why is it not reflected in the report if they are being fair?" Agim added.
Broken promises
For it's part, Amnesty said there has been "no tangible action to address the problem and no one appeared to have been brought to justice," despite promises by the Nigerian government to investigate reports of alleged abuse in these camps since 2015.
"It is absolutely shocking that people who had already suffered so much under Boko Haram have been condemned to further horrendous abuse by the Nigerian military," Amnesty's Ojigho, said.
The organization called on the Nigerian government to make public the findings from a panel investigating the military's compliance with human rights provisions set up by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo.
Many women had testified before the panel whose report was submitted to Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in February, the human rights group said.
"Now is the time for President Buhari to demonstrate his frequently expressed commitment to protect the human rights of displaced people in north-east Nigeria. The only way to end these horrific violations is by ending the climate of impunity in the region and ensuring that no one can get away with rape or murder," Ojigho added.
"The Nigerian authorities must investigate or make public their previous investigations on war crimes and crimes against humanity in the northeast," she added.
'Lacking credibility'
The Nigerian government told CNN the military had found cases of abuse in these camps during the period mentioned in Amnesty's report in 2015, countering the army spokesman's claims that the allegations were investigated and found not to be true.
"Over this period of time, the Nigerian military had indeed established cases of abuse and punishments meted out from orderly room trials and court martials that included the losses of rank, dismissals, and trials and convictions by civil courts," Garba Shehu, a spokesman for the president, told CNN.
However, Shehu echoed the Army spokesman's claims and accused Amnesty of "recycling" claims from a previous report.
Amnesty's report lacked "credibility, falling vehemently short of evidential narration," from victims by failing to address mechanisms put in place by the military and the president's panel after similar allegations were published in 2015, he said.
The Nigerian government was committed to investigating "all documented cases of human rights abuses," Shehu added.
Thousands of these women have died because of lack of food in camps for internally displaced people in Nigeria's northeast after they were rescued from Boko Haram, Amnesty says.
In the report titled "They betrayed us," it is alleged that five women said they were raped by soldiers in late 2015 and early 2016 in a displacement camp in Bama, Borno state.
'Boko Haram wives'
Women interviewed by Amnesty said they were beaten and called "Boko Haram wives" by security officials whenever they complained about their treatment.
The report says that members of the Nigerian military and a local vigilante group Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) "separated women from their husbands and confined them in remote 'satellite camps' where they were raped, sometimes in exchange for food."
Ten women in the Bama camp told Amnesty they were forced to date security officials to get food. One woman said a member of the JTF vigilante group raped her after he brought her food, telling her: "I gave you these things, if you want them, we have to be husband and wife."
"Sex in these highly coercive circumstances is always rape, even when physical force is not used, and Nigerian soldiers and civilian JTF members have been getting away it," Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria said.
"They act like they don't risk sanction, but the perpetrators and their superiors who have allowed this to go unchallenged have committed crimes under international law and must be held to account."
Deadly terror group
Boko Haram, described as the third deadliest terror group by the Global Terrorism Index, has unleashed waves of brutal attacks across parts of northern Nigeria, bombing schools, churches and mosques and kidnapping women and children in a conflict that spans nearly a decade.
The conflict has killed thousands of people and also internally displaced two million people, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
However, the Nigerian army claims it has technically defeated Boko Haram and retaken territories seized by the militant group in the northeast.
Members of its troops recently rescued 1,000 hostages, mostly women and children, from the militant's camps in Borno State, it said.
Hundreds of women along with their children have been held in overcrowded centers in northern Nigeria since 2015.
Amnesty said it had collected evidence that thousands of people have starved to death in displacement camps since 2015.
In the report, the women alleged that 15 to 30 people died each day between 2015 and 2016 due to lack of food in these camps.
The human rights group said satellite images of an expanding graveyard in one of the camps during the time confirmed their testimonies.
In a 2016 report, another rights group, Human Rights Watch, said it had documented 43 cases of sexual violence against women by soldiers in displacement camps in northern Nigeria, forcing the Nigeria government to investigate.
Propaganda
Nigerian army spokesman John Agim denied the allegations in the Amnesty report, branding them "propaganda."
He said the army hasn't been deployed to displacement camps, which he said are run by the police, local vigilante groups and NGOs. "I wonder where Amnesty interviewed women who said they saw soldiers in these camps hoarding food and raping women?" Agim asked.
Agim accused the human rights group of republishing claims that had been investigated by the Nigerian government and had been found to be false.
"Amnesty wrote the same allegations in a report in 2015 and it was investigated then and found not to be true. Why are they presenting them in 2018 after investigations? It is all propaganda and when they continue to propagate these reports, it assumes the property of truth when its not refuted," Agim told CNN.
"Amnesty does not want our war against terrorism to finish; the Nigerian military maintains this position," he said. "Their reports on human right violations is to stop the selling of weapons to the Nigerian military by the American government and others and that approach is not working."
"The Nigerian army just rescued 1,000 Boko Haram captives, that is a good development, why is it not reflected in the report if they are being fair?" Agim added.
Broken promises
For it's part, Amnesty said there has been "no tangible action to address the problem and no one appeared to have been brought to justice," despite promises by the Nigerian government to investigate reports of alleged abuse in these camps since 2015.
"It is absolutely shocking that people who had already suffered so much under Boko Haram have been condemned to further horrendous abuse by the Nigerian military," Amnesty's Ojigho, said.
The organization called on the Nigerian government to make public the findings from a panel investigating the military's compliance with human rights provisions set up by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo.
Many women had testified before the panel whose report was submitted to Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in February, the human rights group said.
"Now is the time for President Buhari to demonstrate his frequently expressed commitment to protect the human rights of displaced people in north-east Nigeria. The only way to end these horrific violations is by ending the climate of impunity in the region and ensuring that no one can get away with rape or murder," Ojigho added.
"The Nigerian authorities must investigate or make public their previous investigations on war crimes and crimes against humanity in the northeast," she added.
'Lacking credibility'
The Nigerian government told CNN the military had found cases of abuse in these camps during the period mentioned in Amnesty's report in 2015, countering the army spokesman's claims that the allegations were investigated and found not to be true.
"Over this period of time, the Nigerian military had indeed established cases of abuse and punishments meted out from orderly room trials and court martials that included the losses of rank, dismissals, and trials and convictions by civil courts," Garba Shehu, a spokesman for the president, told CNN.
However, Shehu echoed the Army spokesman's claims and accused Amnesty of "recycling" claims from a previous report.
Amnesty's report lacked "credibility, falling vehemently short of evidential narration," from victims by failing to address mechanisms put in place by the military and the president's panel after similar allegations were published in 2015, he said.
The Nigerian government was committed to investigating "all documented cases of human rights abuses," Shehu added.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Nigeria's Ogoniland residence desperate for clean water
In the Ogoni region, 90 percent of the underground water is not fit for human use because of oil pollution. A big clean-up is under way in Ogoniland, but local communities say they have already become victims of water contamination.
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