Nigeria's National Human Rights
Commission said Sunday it has credible
reports security forces are killing, torturing,
illegally detaining and raping civilians in a
fight to halt an Islamic uprising in
northeast Nigeria that has killed nearly
2,000 people since 2010.
A report by the commission said troops
retaliating against civilians have torched
homes and tried to hide evidence of gross
violations by disposing of bodies.
In the most egregious case, where troops
went on a rampage in several villages after
a soldier was killed in mid-April in the
fishing village of Baga, it quoted police as
saying soldiers "started shooting
indiscriminately at anybody in sight
including domestic animals.
This reaction
resulted to loss of lives and massive
destruction of properties."
The military said 36 people were killed,
most of them extremist fighters. Witnesses
told the AP at the time that some 187
civilians were killed.
The commission said the killings also came
after militants had ransacked an armory,
with subsequent reports indicating the
extremists enjoyed an increase in the
caliber and quantity of weapons and "had
become both more organized and
emboldened by their apparent successes
despite the enhanced security presence."
That contradicted military reports that they
have taken control of the region in a
military emergency covering thee states and
one-sixth of the sprawling country. Instead,
they appear to have pushed the fighters
into rocky mountains with caves where it is
more difficult to flush them out. The
extremists regularly attack towns and
villages.
The commission, a government body,
issued an interim report saying it would
finalize it when its investigators are able to
visit the area where soldiers have cut
mobile phone and Internet connections.
A
state of emergency was declared May 14
when the government said extremists from
the Boko Haram terrorist group had taken
control of some towns and villages.
The insurgency poses the biggest threat in
years to security in Nigeria, Africa's most
populous nation of 160 million and the
continent's biggest oil producer.
Communities trapped between the Islamic
militants and the security forces "reportedly
live in desperate fear and destitution," the
commission said.
It warned of an imminent public health
emergency and food shortages because
farmers have been forced from their fields.
Food prices have nearly trebled, the
commission said, with a 50-kilogram (110-
pound) sack of rice selling for up to 18,000
naira ($112.50) from 7,000 naira ($44).
Some medical experts from the region have
reported a notable upsurge in sudden
deaths, heart attacks and aneurysms, it
said.
Northeast Nigeria already presents "the
worst statistics of human development in
Nigeria generally," it said.
Maternal mortality rates were three times
the national average of 545 deaths for every
100,000 live births, and reports reaching
the commission suggest the emergency has
even more mothers dying in childbirth.
Northeast Nigeria is the poorest region in
the country, with government statistics
indicating 75 percent of the population
lives from hand to mouth on less than $1 a
day.
The commission's interim findings
corroborated AP reports from the region.
Militants who began by targeting
government personnel and health workers
— they preach that Western religion and
medicine are forbidden — are increasingly
targeting civilians in attacks on schools and
vaccination campaigns.
"The Commission equally received several
credibly attested allegations of gross
violations by officials of the JTF (joint task
force of police and military), including
allegations of summary executions, torture,
arbitrary detention amounting to
internment and outrages against the dignity
of civilians, as well as rape," the rights
commission said.
"In particular, we have received persistent
and credibly attested allegations of
indiscriminate disposal of dead human
remains by personnel of both the JTF and
the Borno State Environmental Protection
Agency."
The military and presidential spokesmen
did not respond to requests for comment.
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