DAVID ADAMS reports…
Human rights group Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the Nigerian military for “participating, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths” of more than 8,000 people who it says were murdered, starved, suffocated and tortured to death as a result of its conflict with terror group Boko Haram.
The call comes with the release of a 133 page report which claims that at least 7,000 young men and boys have died in military detention since March, 2011, as a result of starvation, extreme overcrowding and the denial of medical assistance, and that more than 1,200 people have been unlawfully executed since February, 2012. It says that more than 20,000 young men and boys as young as nine years old have been arrested since 2009 and adds that the evidence suggests the vast majority of those arrested, detained or killed were not members of Boko Haram.
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“Whilst an urgent and impartial investigation of these war crimes is vital, this report is not just about the criminal responsibility of individuals. It is also about the responsibility of Nigeria’s leadership to act decisively to end the pervasive culture of impunity within the armed forces.”– Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International
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The report, Stars on their shoulders. Blood on their hands: War crimes committed by the Nigerian military, is based on more than 412 interviews with victims and their families, eyewitnesses, human rights activists, doctors, journalists, lawyers and military sources and the examination of documents, videos and photographs.
It says that the deaths occurred in relation to military operations against terror group Boko Haram in the country’s north-east and concludes that the acts, which it says were “committed in the context of a non-international armed conflict”, constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity. It names nine senior military officials whom it says should be investigated for “potential individual command responsibility for these crimes”.
Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s secretary general, describes the evidence as “sickening” and says it provides “strong grounds for investigations into the possible criminal responsibility for the war crimes of murder, torture and enforced disappearance”.
“Whilst an urgent and impartial investigation of these war crimes is vital, this report is not just about the criminal responsibility of individuals,” he says. “It is also about the responsibility of Nigeria’s leadership to act decisively to end the pervasive culture of impunity within the armed forces.”
In an article accompanying the release of the report, Mr Shetty calls on Nigeria’s newly elected government under President Mohammadu Buhari to “immediately set up independent and impartial investigations…of all those responsible for the war crimes detailed, no matter their rank or position.”
“Faced with the lawless brutality and violence of Boko Haram, the need for a government that respects human rights and the rule of law for all is more vital than ever,” he writes.
“The commitments made by President Buhari at his inauguration will give hope those fighting to end impunity in Nigeria and those desperate to find out what has happened to their loved ones. But a man is not judged on his words. He is judged on his actions. Nigeria has the ability to properly investigate these crimes and President Buhari’s statements indicate he has the will to make it happen. There is no time to waste.”
The report details numerous instances in which people have died at the hands of the Nigerian military, saying that research shows “extrajudicial executions of Boko Haram suspects were a routine practice for the Nigerian military”.
Among the incidents detailed in the report were the killings of more than 640 detainees who fled following a Boko Haram attack on the Giwa barracks in Maiduguri in Borno state on 14th March last year.
It also details claims of detainees being held in extremely crowded conditions and, according to an unnamed high ranking military officer, “deliberately starved”. “Torture and lack of medical assistance for injuries caused by torture is another major cause of death in military detention,” says the report.
Amnesty says the conflict between Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces, which has been running since 2009, has claimed at least 17,000 lives, most of them civilians, and forced more than a million people to flee their homes.
The report says that while religion appears to be a driver of the conflict, a number of other factors are also contributing to the ongoing instability in the region including the shrinking political influence of the north and the dissatisfaction over the government as well as corruption and poverty.
A spokesman for the Nigerian military told the BBC that the report was a “calculated attempt” to “rubbish” the reputations of specified senior officers.
~ To download the Amnesty report, click here.
