Amnesty International, a human rights group, on Thursday accused Nigeria’s army of war crimes against humanity, which include the rape and killing of civilians in the course of its fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.
The alleged crimes are said to have been committed over many years regardless of the presidential inquiry carried out last August, details of which have not been disclosed.
Nigeria’s army in response to the allegation on the incidence of rape in the Internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the North East region of Nigeria, described the report as “inaccurate and unfounded”.
The presidency also responded saying that the Amnesty report is unreliable because it does not contain factual leads that could have laid the foundation for investigative action, Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity stated.
The 89-page report by Amnesty International is based on interviews with displaced people alleging that the soldiers chased them out of their villages pretending to be allies, but were in the end, foes; they detained their husbands, opened fire on remaining residents, torched their villages and sexually molested the women.
Often the military would take people under coercion to camps as people displaced by the conflict, the report said. The women are forced to give sexual favours in exchange for food and supplies.
This conflict is termed one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, as over 30,000 people have been killed.
Photo Credit: Reuters
