ICC Note:
Boko Haram, a radical Islamic insurgency that has terrorized northeast for nearly a decade, is claimed to walk into villages uncontested by Niergian personnel, according to internally displaced persons (IDPs). Claiming the military has unofficially sanctioned “no-go” areas across the increasingly lawless northeast, IDPs sympathized with rural villagers who are often left unprotected, and therefore susceptible to attack. Committing increasingly indiscriminate massacres, Boko Haram militants have, in recent months, expanded their justifiable targets to include women, children and the elderly. Christians in Nigeria’s north continue to dwindle as churches and homes are burnt down and faithful believers murdered on almost, if not, weekly basis.
06/27/2014 Nigeria (GlobalPost) – At a camp for people who have fled Boko Haram insurgents in northeast Nigeria, Zannaram Bukar tells an increasingly familiar story of bloodshed, fear and abandonment.
It’s a tale of violence and destruction, of homes, markets and even mosques, robbing villagers not just of life but vital food stores and the precious commodity of cattle for those who survive.
But Bukar, from Abbari village, in the Konduga district of Borno state, and the 4,600 or so others in a displaced persons’ camp in Maiduguri, also tell another story, backed up by those still living in the harsh, semi-desert scrub of Borno state’s rural hinterland.
“There were soldiers in some villages surrounding us but the soldiers only protect us during the day. As soon as evening approaches, they would all leave,” said the 52-year-old.
“The soldiers are stationed in villages near the big road. But if you go to villages situated far from the big road, where you don’t even hear the sound of a passing car, you cannot find any soldier there.”
The apparent lack of a military presence in some areas of Borno has led to claims that many parts of the northeast are effectively lawless, “no-go” areas for the security services.
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