No Matter the Number, Baga Massacre is Brutal 15 - Annan

9 years ago

No Matter the Number, Baga Massacre is Brutal 15 - Annan

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Mr. Kofi Annan
Says forthcoming election has global implications
Amnesty International provides satellite images of Baga attacks
By Tobi Soniyi and Senator Iroegbu in Abujaâ€¨
A former Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Mr. Kofi Annan, has voiced his support for Nigeria’s ongoing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency campaign against the Boko Haram insurgents, describing the recent Baga massacre as brutal.
This came as Amnesty International (AI) said that it had satellite images showing the horrific scale of Boko Haram attack on Baga.
Annan made his statement on Thursday in Abuja during a press conference which formed part of the activities of his visit to the country ahead of the February general elections.
The former UN scribe said no matter the number being quoted, whether in the thousands or hundreds, the killings of innocent Nigerians by the terror organisation was ungodly and unacceptable.
He said: “Terrorism is a global issue. It is a concern to all of us. We should stand as one and resist Boko Haram. We are all responsible for stopping them. Baga massacre was brutal and ungodly.
“I have been receiving conflicting figures. Some said 2,000 people died, while others are saying they are in their hundreds. But it was a massacre.”
To defeat Boko Haram, Annan called on Nigerians to unite to forge a common front against an enemy that does not discriminate in its dastardly acts.
He described the situation in the Northeast region as frustrating, and warned Nigerian leaders to look inwards for solution and that every stakeholder must offer their support in order to stop the insurgents.
The statesman further advised well-meaning Nigerians to stop looking up to other world leaders, insisting that every country has its own peculiar challenges to confront.
“Nigeria must look inwards and find a way to crush terrorism because other countries that you expect to speak out against Boko Haram insurgency have their own challenges. Nigerians should come together and contain Boko Haram,” he said.
“There is no doubt that the situation in the North-east is frustrating and that they would like the insurgency to end. I hope that they will not walk away from voting,” he added.
In the same, Annan stated the importance of next month’s general elections to the West African sub-region, the entire Africa continent and world at large.
He said if Nigeria gets the outcome of the elections right or wrong, it would affect other African countries.
To avoid negative consequences of failed elections, the former UN scribe urged politicians and political leaders to avoid inciting and provocative statements capable of igniting violence.
Annan equally advised the electorate not to adhere to such divisive statements but to challenge those aspiring to lead their programmes for development.
He also refused to consider a situation of stalemate that would lead to a transition government as widely rumoured to be in the plan, saying the election must produce a winner.
In his words: “The lead to avoid violence must come from the party leaders and party chairmen, then their supporters will follow. If they speak the right language and not incite people then there will not be violence. The electorate should also not be s£duced by these inflamatory statements but must task the leaders on what they are to do to reduce poverty and unemployment.
“If Nigeria progresses, the region will do likewise, and if they are drowning the region will also suffers”.
“There will be election and there will likely be a winner. One cannot enter election with a mindset that a winner will not emerge. If you don’t vote and you complain later, then you are part of the problem.
Speaking further, Annan expressed confident that from facts presented to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is ready to conduct credible elections.
He equally enjoined Nigerians to support the commission in conducting free, fair and credible elections that will usher in the desired change in the in the country.
“Conduct of elections is not the responsibility of INEC alone. Security agencies have their roles to play. They must play a neutral role and not be partisan.
“Citizens too have roles to play. What happens in Nigeria has great impact in the region and in the world. Nigeria can make Africa proud and I know it will,” Annan said.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International (AI), in a statement, said the images provided an indisputable and shocking evidence of the scale of last week’s attack on the towns of Baga and Doron Baga by Boko Haram militants.
AI said before and after images of two neighbouring towns, Baga (160 kilometres from Maiduguri) and Doron Baga (also known as Doro Gowon, 2.5 km from Baga), taken on January 2 and 7, showed the devastating effect of the attacks which left over 3,700 structures damaged or completely destroyed.
The organisation said other nearby towns and villages were also attacked over this period.
“These detailed images show devastation of catastrophic proportions in two towns, one of which was almost wiped off the map in the space of four days.
“Of all Boko Haram assaults analysed by AI, this is the largest and most destructive yet. It represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics and schools are now in ruins.”
According to AI, in Baga, a densely populated town less than two square kilometres in size, approximately 620 structures, was damaged or completely destroyed by fire.
It said: “In Doron Baga over 3,100 structures were damaged or destroyed by fire affecting most of the four square kilometre town.
“Thousands of people have fled the violence across the border to Chad and to other parts of Nigeria including Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. These people are adding to the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people and refugees, who have already stretched the capacity of host communities and government authorities.
AI called on the governments of Nigeria and Chad to ensure that displaced people are protected and provided with adequate humanitarian assistance.
It also pointed out those who fled the attack describe seeing many more corpses in the bush. “I don’t know how many but there were bodies everywhere we looked,” one woman reportedly told AI.
AI said that another witness described to it how Boko Haram were shooting indiscriminately killing even small children and a woman who was in labour.
“Half of the baby boy is out and she died like this,” he said.
Boko Haram fighters have repeatedly targeted communities for their perceived collaboration with the security forces.
Towns which formed state-sponsored militia groups known as the Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) have suffered particularly brutal attacks.
Civilian JTF groups were active in Baga and a senior military official confirmed to AI confidentially that at times the military took these members on operations to attack Boko Haram positions.

A witness told AI during the attack on Baga that he heard Boko Haram fighters saying they were searching for Civilian JTF members, as they went house to house shooting men of fighting age.
After the attack on Baga, witnesses describe how Boko Haram drove into the bush rounding up women, children and the elderly who had escaped.
According to one woman who was detained for four days, “Boko Haram took around 300 women and kept us in a school in Baga. They released the older women, mothers and most of the children after four days but are still keeping the younger women.”
The organisation called on Boko Haram to stop killing civilians, adding that the deliberate killing of civilians and destruction of their properties by the sect are war crimes and crimes against humanity and must be duly investigated.
It asked the government to take all possible legal steps to restore security in the Northeast and ensure protection of civilians.
“Up until now, the isolation of Baga combined with the fact that Boko Haram remains in control of the area has meant that it has been very difficult to verify what happened there. Residents have not been able to return to bury the dead, let alone count their number. But through these satellite images combined with graphic testimonies a picture of what is likely to be Boko Haram’s deadliest attack ever is becoming clearer,” said Daniel Eyre.
This week, Nigeria’s Director of Defence Information stated that the number of people killed in Baga including Boko Haram fighters, “has so far not exceeded about 150. These images, together with the stories of those who survived the attack, suggest that the final death toll could be much higher than this figure.”