Flere end 2000 mennesker er dræbt i Nigerias Kano State, siden den militante islamiske gruppe Boko Harams oprør startede i 2009. Regeringen har indført undtagelsestilstand, og præsident Goodluck Jonathan vil ifølge BBC løslade alle kvindelige ‘terrorister’ i et forsøg på at få Boko Haram med til forhandlingsbordet.
KANO, 22 May 2013 (IRIN) – Tens of thousands of residents of northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State have fled their homes – thousands of them into neighbouring Niger and Cameroon – following airstrikes by Nigerian fighter jets on Boko Haram (BH) camps from 15 May.
The attacks on BH camps in northern parts of Borno close to the borders with Chad, Niger and Cameroon followed the 14 May declaration of a state of emergency by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Fleeing the fighting
Musa Karimbe fled his village of Bulabute near Marte, BH’s major stronghold in the area, on 17 May to Kusiri, 100km inside Cameroon where he is staying with a friend. “We are afraid of a repeat of Baga attacks on our homes,” Karimbe said, referring to fighting on 16 and 17 April between troops from the Chad-Niger-Nigeria Joint Multi-National Task Force and BH members in which 187 residents from Baga town on the shores of Lake Chad were killed, and 2,128 homes burnt, according to Human Rights Watch.
People from villages around Abadam District, including Malamfatori, fled to Bosso in Niger’s Diffa Region, while others have taken refuge in the Cameroonian towns of Fotokol, Amchide, Darak and Kusiri, according to interviews with displaced Nigerians. Officials say 2,000 people have fled across borders, though several of the displaced told IRIN they thought the number was higher.
All necessary action
Since January 2013 BH has taken control of several areas in northern Borno, chasing out local government officials, taking over control of government buildings and imposing Sharia law.
This prompted President Goodluck Jonathan to declare last week that he would “take all necessary action… to put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists,” including the arrest and detention of suspects, taking over BH hideouts, the lockdown of suspected BH enclaves, raids, and arresting anyone possessing illegal weapons.
Attempts at dialogue
The military crackdown came after several attempts at dialogue – the most recent on 17 April, when the president set up a 26-member Amnesty Committee with a three-month mandate to try to convince BH to lay down its arms in exchange for a state pardon and social reintegration.
BH has repeatedly rejected peace talks, citing insincerity on the part of the Nigerian government following a series of failed mediated negotiations.
