Women abused in Nigerian military cells after fleeing Boko Haram

Dozens of women and young girls have been unlawfully detained and abused in Nigerian military detention facilities after escaping captivity by Boko Haram extremists in the country’s northeast, Amnesty International said in a new report on Monday.

Some of the women were detained with their children for years because of their real or perceived association with the extremists, the report said. It cited 126 interviews, mostly with survivors, over the 14 years since the Islamic extremists launched their insurgency.

The report echoes past human rights concerns about the Nigerian military, which in the past has been accused of extrajudicial killings and illegal arrests in one of the world’s longest conflicts.


However, the report noted that prolonged and unlawful detentions have been less widespread in recent years.

Nigeria's army dismissed the report as “unsubstantiated” and reiterated that it has continued to improve on its human rights record and holds personnel to account.

The conflict has spilt over borders killed at least 35,000 people and displaced over 2 million. Women and young girls are often forcefully married or sexually abused in captivity.

But the conditions some women found themselves in after fleeing captivity were so “horrible” that some chose to return to Boko Haram, Niki Frederiek, crisis researcher with Amnesty International, said of the detention camps located in military facilities in Borno state.

At least 31 survivors interviewed said they were held illegally in the facilities, the report said, suggesting the practice had been more widespread.

“Some said soldiers insulted them, calling them ‘Boko Haram wives’ and accusing them of being responsible for killings. Several described beatings or abysmal conditions in detention, which amount to torture or other ill-treatment,” the report said.

“The Nigerian authorities must support these girls and young women as they fully reintegrate into society,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa.

Africa News 

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President Tinubu says economic reforms will continue despite hardships

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu said on Wednesday economic reforms would continue despite increasing hardships that have fuelled public anger, and promised to send an executive bill to parliament soon to set a new minimum wage.

Tinubu, who came to power a year ago, removed a decades-old petrol subsidy that kept prices artificially low and devalued the currency, sending inflation soaring to 33.69% in April, its highest level in nearly three decades and eroding incomes.

In a television broadcast to mark Democracy Day, Tinubu acknowledged hardships caused by the reforms, which also include higher interest rates and the partial removal of electricity subsidies, but he said this would create a stronger foundation for future growth.

"Our economy has been in desperate need of reform for decades. It has been unbalanced because it was built on the flawed foundation of over-reliance on revenues from the exploitation of oil," Tinubu said.
"As we continue to reform the economy, I shall always listen to the people and will never turn my back on you."

Nigeria is grappling with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades and labour unions last week suspended a strike called to pressure the government to agree a new monthly minimum wage.

The government has offered to double the minimum wage to 62,000 naira ($41.89) a month against labour demands of 250,000 naira, and Tinubu said his government had negotiated in good faith. The last minimum wage was set in 2019.

"We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less," Tinubu said.

He did not say whether the bill would contain the government minimum wage proposal or a new figure.
Labour union leaders have said they would wait to hear back from Tinubu before deciding on next steps.

By Felix Onuah, Reuters 

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Nigerian fishing community on edge after jihadists threaten attack

Nigerian fisherman Modu Umar has hardly slept for two weeks, torn between staying in his Baga community or fleeing after Islamist militants warned residents to leave their homes or face an attack.

Umar, a 33-year-old father of three, has known no life but fishing in nearby Lake Chad and selling his catch in the four countries around it. Now, like hundreds of other residents, he is anxious about his future.

Five Baga residents said fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province(ISWAP), a Boko Haram offshoot, attacked the community on May 27, killing 15 people and abducting many more.

Days later, the group issued a 14-day eviction notice that has rippled through Baga, which in the past has witnessed battles between the multinational forces of Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger, and jihadists.
"We are in a difficult situation and helpless," Umar told Reuters by phone. "Ever since the notice, I have been constantly worried and in fear."

Many residents have already left, although an estimate was unavailable.

President Bola Tinubu came to power last year promising to end widespread insecurity, which includes the Boko Haram insurgency that started in 2009.

Baga is part of Kukawa, one of the 27 local government areas in Borno state, the heart of the insurgency.
The town is headquarters to a brigade of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). But that offers little relief for residents.

In January 2015, Boko Haram carried out a series of raids on Baga, overran the MNJTF headquarters and killed dozens of people.

Defense spokesperson Major General Edward Buba told Reuters the military had put in place "measures to ensure the people are protected from acts of terror of the terrorists."

Modu Massah Baga, 39, provides for his two wives and eight children from fishing. He is worried he may have to give up his means of support.

"How can you just leave where you have a source of livelihood and go to where you don't know? It is disheartening to us because many are afraid and worried," he said. "This is the only place we work to feed our families."

Baga has also seen intra-jihadist fighting between ISWAP and Jama'tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad (JAS), another Boko Haram remnant that since last year has been seizing islands in Lake Chad previously controlled by ISWAP, security experts say.

This fighting could have triggered the eviction notice, the experts added.

"ISWAP is sometimes more aggressive towards civilians in the Lake Chad communities when it is facing setbacks because it has to resort to terrorizing communities in order to deter them from working with either the military or a rival faction," said James Barnett, a Hudson Institute research fellow who has written extensively on the insurgency. 

By Ope Adetayo, Reuters

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