Kommentar af Clemet Dachet, Mission Afrika
Vestlige medier beskyldes for at ignorere drabene i den nigerianske by Baga til fordel for drabene på Charlie Hebdo. Men kritikken bør lige så meget rettes mod Nigeria, hvor de politiske ledere ikke har gjort meget ud af sagen, siger nigeriansk debattør.
The events of last week in Nigeria (the alleged killing of 2000 people in Baga) and France (the killing of 12 people at Charlie Hebdo in Paris) reminds me of the events of September 9th 2001 in Jos, Nigeria and the attack on the world trade center on September 11th.
In both instances while the later received global sympathy and condemnation, the former was drowned in the frenzy of the later.
What about Baga?
Many have expressed their frustration with what they consider a double standard by the western media.
In the wake of other killings in a market in Maiduguri by two young ‘child-suicide’ bombers, the Catholic Arch-bishop of Jos, while granting an interview accused the west of ignoring Nigeria to the threat of the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram.
He said the international community had to show the same spirit and resolve it had shown after the attacks in France.
Following this, many have voiced the same concern over the social media on why nothing is being said about the deaths in Baga, Nigeria.
While I share the same concern, my finger isn’t pointing to the west but rather I am looking inwards to Nigeria with the same concern.
Where is the voice of the Nigerian leaders raised in solidarity to the people of Baga?
In its sluggish fashion, just like it did during the abduction of the Chibok girls, there has not been any official statement from the leadership about the situation in Baga.
What was different?
Comparing this with the Paris attack, the difference is obviously clear. There was a swift response by the French leadership and the entire nation was carried along.
I believe the world did not just stand for France because it is a western country. I think the world stood with France because they stood up as a people in solidarity.
As a Nigerian, I am pained in my heart because, since the inception of Boko Haram, its gradual metamorphosis into a violent group and all the series of violence it has meted out on innocent civilians, they and their network of sponsors have carried on with impunity.
There is no doubt that the required show of leadership in dealing with the menace of Boko Haram in Nigeria has failed.
Nigerians’ resilience to the unabated problem is not because they don’t care. Not many have raised their voices against Baga. This could also be as a result of the challenges finding, ascertaining and disseminating information in Nigeria.
I recall a quick chat I had with Will Rose (a BBC Reporter) in Abuja about a year ago. I asked him what was most challenging reporting the situation in North East Nigeria. His response was not surprising. He said rumors are more readily available than facts.
How has the 2000 figure been established? Most news media have reported the Baga attack using the figure with a grain of salt as this is built on fleeing eyewitness accounts whose circumstances at the time of flight would have been restless.
While this remains unsubstantiated, the Nigeria Army spokesperson released its own figure, claiming that 150 people and not 2000, including members of the dreaded sects, were killed in the Baga attack.
But certainly no one will put weight on the figures given by the Nigerian Army spokesman given its notoriously misguiding public relations such as the claim to have found the missing girls from Chibok, the claim of a cease fire agreement with Boko Haram etc. which all turned out to be false.
It is no rocket science to assume that the attack on Baga was strategic for Boko Haram and it was certainly not the first.
As a trans-border town to Chad and also being the station town for the multinational Army base (of Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad and Niger) the benefit for Boko Haram would be for expanding their so-called caliphate northwards and to allow for easy movement across Nigerian and Chadian boarder.
The inability of the presence of this multi-national army to wade off the attack of Boko Haram has revealed a gross lapse in this regional effort. Niger is said to have withdrawn its own military from the agreement owing to the claim that the Nigerian Government did not honor its part of the agreement.
Part of this may sadly be hinged on the fact that the Nigerian Army’s seeming inefficiency is blamed on the lack of more modern and sophisticated military hardware to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.
However this is adjudged today, the realities that have reeled out of the deadly activities of Boko Haram continue to stare us in the face from Chibok to Baga.
Boko Haram is said to be in control of a part of North Eastern Nigeria that is about the size of Belgium. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) report of 2013 indicated that over 3.3 million Nigerians were internally displaced.
This report includes displaced persons resulting from several other internal crises; however, a report by IDMC shows that Boko Haram’s attacks makes for almost half of the quoted figure.
Further report made available in 2014 shows at least 150,000 have taken refuge in neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
The European Union aid body ECHO says this number could be as high as 180,000 in 2014. (IRIN, 28 November 2014).
The need for a unified voice and action from both Nigeria and the international community is an imperative to bringing this menace to an end.
May be we can find some lessons to carry with us from the way the French responded.
First, there was a clear political will and commitment on the part of the French authority. It was not an issue for partisan political bickering. This was a French problem and was addressed as such.
Secondly, there was robust solidarity across religious, ethnic and political lines.
Thirdly, the world empathized with France because it could have been any country. This was the case when the movement #BringBackOurGirls started. Nigerians rose to the occasion and the world paid attention and stood.
Finally, like the Catholic Arch Bishop of Jos highlighted, the international community needs to rise and support Nigeria.
It is obvious the country is not winning the war against terrorism. The situation is desperate and the international community must not fold its hand and watch another round of genocide take place like in Rwanda before responding.
The inability of the Nigerian Government to protect the rights of its citizens to life has been grossly abused. Let posterity not judge us harshly for failing the weak and helpless when we could.
Clemet Dachet er fra Nigeria og bor i Danmark. Han er teolog og samfunddebattør og er tilknyttet den kristne organisation Mission Afrika.
Kommentaren har tidligere været bragt på hans personlige blog – https://csdachet.wordpress.com
