Politics

Seven people were brutally slaughtered and nearly 30 houses burnt down during a surprise attack by Boko Haram in the village of Tchébé-Tchébé, a military source has hinted Cameroon Concord.  The Boko Haram onslaught which reportedly took place on the night of Wednesday to Thursday in the village Tchebé-Tchébé located in the Mayo-Tsanaga Division in the Far North region of the country also witnessed the stealing of livestock.

Military sources said the Boko Haram fighters were equipped with firearms, machetes and arrows. They asked the villagers to leave their houses and announced that they would kill all those who were not Muslims. The members of the Nigerian Islamic sect made away with cattle, sheep and goats.

Our military informant in Maroua continues to indicate that the elements of Boko Haram are weakened and have few weapons. This is the second surprise attack Boko Haram in less than 10 days. On April 30, the fighters of the sect attacked the village of Mada, 20 km Waza.

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Ngwa Bertrand

08.May.2015

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The United Nations (UN) says at least 214 young women and girls recently rescued from the the camps of the Takfiri Boko Haram militants in northeastern Nigeria are pregnant. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA)’s executive director, Babatunde Osotimehin, said Monday that many of these women are undergoing medical tests and screening for various diseases and infections, including HIV/AIDS. "About 214 of those already screened were discovered to be at various stages of pregnancies, some visibly pregnant and some just tested pregnant; but we are supporting all of them with various levels of care to stabilize them," the UN official added.

“Some of the children that were freed along with the women, it was discovered, were born in the forest and had never been out in the open until their release by the Nigerian Army,” Osotimehin said. Nigeria’s army says it freed almost 7,000 women from various Boko Haram camps last week. Army spokesman Chris Olukolade said Monday that soldiers found an additional 260 women and children, who had escaped from the terrorists, on the outskirts of Chalawa Village in the northeastern state of Adamawa.

Most of them come from the nearby town of Madagali and surrounding communities, he added. Earlier on April 31, Nigerian army rescued 234 women and children from a Boko Haram stronghold in Sambisa Forest in the restive northeastern state of Borno. Boko Haram militants regularly abduct women and girls during their attacks on various Nigerian villages and towns. On April 14, 2014, the militants kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school in the town of Chibok in Borno. Two days later, 57 of the girls managed to escape but 219 remained in captivity, reportedly in the Sambisa Forest.

It is still unclear if the missing Chibok schoolgirls are among those rescued recently. Meanwhile, those who have been freed say the group is fracturing, as shortages of weapons and fuel foment tensions between its foot soldiers and leaders. Boko Haram says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government. It has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of the country since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far left about 15,000 people dead and displaced about 1.5 million.

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Ngwa Bertrand

05.May.2015

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Boko Haram is fracturing as shortages of weapons and fuel foment tensions between its foot soldiers and leaders, women rescued from the Islamist jihadi fighters by Nigerian troops told Reuters. The group abducted an estimated 2,000 women and girls last year as it sought to carve out an Islamic state in the northeast of Africa’s biggest economy. The army has freed nearly 700 in the past week as it advances on Boko Haram's last stronghold in the vast Sambisa forest. The militants began complaining to their captives about lacking guns and ammunition last month, two of the women said, and many were reduced to carrying sticks while some of their vehicles were either broken down or lacked gasoline.

A 45-year old mother of two, Aisha Abbas, who was taken from Dikwa in April, said the fighters all had guns at first but recently, only some carried them. Even the wife of their captors' leader, Adam Bitri, openly criticized him and subsequently fled, two of the women said, with one describing Bitri as short and fat with a beard. Of 275 freed captives brought to a government-run camp for internally displaced people in the Malkohi hamlet on the outskirts of Adamawa state capital, Yola, only 61 were over 18, and many small children hobbled around visibly malnourished. The women said they were kept inside, occasionally brought food and sometimes beaten severely. The children were left to run around or do errands for Boko Haram while those of the fighters were trained to shoot guns. “One evening in April, Boko Haram followers stood before us and said ‘Our leaders don’t want to give us enough fuel and guns and now the soldiers are encroaching on us in Sambisa. We will leave you.’” one of the women, 18-year old Binta Ibrahim from northern Adamawa state said. “They threatened us but after they went we were happy and prayed the soldiers would come and save us.”

The women said once the militants spotted two helicopters circling at noon on the day of their rescue, they began trying to sell the women for up to 2,000 naira (about $10) each. Towards evening, as the army approached, the captives refused to flee with Boko Haram fighters, who began stoning them but then ran away. "We heard bullets flying around ... we lay on the floor. Some of the women were crushed (by army vehicles) and others wounded by bullets. Eighteen were killed. We counted them, they included infants," Salamatu Mohamed from the Damboa area in Borno said. The defence ministry was not immediately available for comment. Mohamed said she gave birth while in captivity and had trouble feeding her newborn as there was not enough food. Boko Haram seemed almost unstoppable and fast becoming a regional threat after it gained control of an area larger than Belgium last year and increased cross-border attacks on Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Its six-year-old insurgency has killed thousands and forced 1.5 million people from their homes and the group caused a global outcry when it abducted over 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok. The women said the men frequently threatened to sell them or bring them to Boko Haram’s elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, deep in the forest. Nigeria has claimed to have killed him several times. Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade told Reuters the man was not a priority target. Hanatu Musa, a 22-year old mother kidnapped in June from Gwoza in Borno state, quoted the fighters as saying their leader had deceived them into fighting and killing in the name of religion. While the Nigerian army, which launched its counter-attack in January, is confident it has the group cornered in the Sambisa nature reserve, a final push to clear them from the area has been curtailed by landmines. None of the women interviewed had seen any of the Chibok girls, but Abbas said fighters who travelled from a camp in Sambisa where they were held to source food would describe the situation. "They said the Chibok girls were married off this year. Some sold to slavery, then others (militants) each married two or four of the girls," Abbas said.

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Ngwa Bertrand

05.May.2015

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Ngwa Bertrand

04.May.2015

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Boko Haram fighters killed older boys and men in front of their families before taking women and children into the forest where many died of hunger and disease, freed captives said on Sunday after they were brought to a government refugee camp. The Nigerian army rescued hundreds of women and children last week from the Islamist fighters in northern Nigeria's Sambisa Forest in a major operation that has turned international attention to the plight of hostages. After days on the road in pickup trucks, hundreds were released on Sunday into the care of authorities at a refugee camp in the eastern town of Yola to be fed and treated for injuries. They have been able to speak to reporters for the first time. "They didn't allow us to move an inch," said one of the freed women, Asabe Umaru, describing her captivity in the forest. "If you needed the toilet, they followed you. We were kept in one place. We were under bondage. "We thank God to be alive today. We thank the Nigerian army for saving our lives," she added.

Two hundred seventy-five women and children, some with heads or limbs in bandages, arrived in the camp late on Saturday. Nearly 700 kidnap victims were freed from the Islamist group's forest stronghold since Tuesday, with the latest group of 234 women and children liberated on Friday. "When we saw the soldiers we raised our hands and shouted for help. Boko Haram who were guarding us started stoning us so we would follow them to another hideout, but we refused because we were sure the soldiers would rescue us," Umaru, a 24 year-old mother of two, told Reuters. The prisoners suffered constant malnutrition and disease, she said. "Every day we witnessed the death of one of us and waited for our turn." Another freed captive, Cecilia Abel, said her husband and first son had been killed in her presence before the militia forced her and her remaining eight children into the forest.

For two weeks before the military arrived she had barely eaten. "We were fed only ground dry maize in the afternoons. It was not good for human consumption," she said. "Many of us that were captured died in Sambisa Forest. Even after our rescue about 10 died on our way to this place." The freed prisoners were fed bread and mugs of tea as soon as they arrived at the government camp. Nineteen were in hospital for special attention, Dr. Mohammed Aminu Sulieman of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency told Reuters. Amnesty International estimates the insurgents, who are intent on bringing western Africa under Islamist rule, have taken more than 2,000 women and girls captive since the start of 2014. Many have been used as cooks, sex slaves or human shields. The prisoners freed so far do not appear to include any of more than 200 schoolgirls snatched from school dormitories in Chibok town a year ago, an incident that drew global attention to the six-year-old insurgency.

Umaru said her group of prisoners never came in contact with the missing Chibok girls. Nigerian troops alongside armies from neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger have won back swathes of territory from the fighters in the last couple of months. Last year, the group exerted influence over an area bigger than Belgium. But a counter-attack launched in January has pushed them into Sambisa, a nature reserve. While the Nigerian army is confident it has the group cornered, a final push to clear them from the area has been curtailed by landmines. President Goodluck Jonathan, who relinquishes power later in May after his election defeat to Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to hand over a Nigeria "free of terrorist strongholds". Rampant corruption and a failure to stamp out the uprising in the north were factors that cost Jonathan the election won by Buhari, a former military ruler.

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Ngwa Bertrand

04.May.2015

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Nigeria has rescued 234 women and children from a Boko Haram Takfiri militant stronghold in the restive northeastern state of Borno, the army says. The hostages were rescued on Thursday as part of an ongoing operation through the Kawuri and Konduga end of the Sambisa Forest, the military said in a Friday statement. Military spokesman Chris Olukolade said that the operation in the forest is continuing with the aim of saving more hostages and destroying all terrorist camps.

The Nigerian military freed 293 women and children in the Sambisa Forest on Tuesday and over 160 other hostages in the following days. Boko Haram militants regularly abduct women and girls during their attacks on various Nigerian cities. On April 14, 2014, the militants kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school in the town of Chibok in Borno. Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape but 219 remained in captivity, reportedly in the Sambisa Forest.

It is still unclear if the missing Chibok schoolgirls are among those rescued in recent days.Boko Haram says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government. It has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of the country since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far left about 15,000 people dead and displaced about 1.5 million.

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Ngwa Bertrand

02.May.2015

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