En årelang voldsspiral i to delstater fortsætter, fordi myndighederne ikke pågriber og retsforfølger gerningsmændene, selv om de er kendt, skriver Human Rights Watch i ny rapport, som skildrer gruopvækkende lemlæstelser og beretter om mennesker, der brændes til døde.
ABUJA, 12. december 2013 (HRW): Nigeria’s government has largely ignored years of mass murder in Plateau and Kaduna states in central Nigeria, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday.
The new report catalogues horrific sectarian violence in these two states, which has left more than 3.000 people dead since 2010.
Many victims of the communal violence – including women and children – were hacked to death, burned alive, or shot simply based on their ethnic or religious identity.
The report examines the government’s failure, with rare exception, to hold perpetrators (gerningsmænd) accountable, even though many of their identities are well-known in the affected communities.
Hævner deres døde
“Witnesses came forward to tell their stories, compiled lists of the dead, and identified the attackers, but in most cases nothing was done,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, adding:
“The authorities may have forgotten these killings, but communities have not. In the absence of justice, residents have resorted to (grebet til) violence to avenge their losses.”
The 146-page report, “‘Leave Everything to God’: Accountability for Inter-Communal Violence in Plateau and Kaduna States, Nigeria,” which includes a photo essay, is based on interviews with more than 180 witnesses and victims of violence in Plateau and Kaduna states, as well as police investigators, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges, and community leaders.
A Human Rights Watch researcher conducted site visits to scenes of major violence, sometimes just days after a massacre, collected and analyzed court documents, and attended some of the court proceedings in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.
Plateau State has suffered more than a decade of recurring (gentagne)bloody episodes of communal violence, which have left thousands of Christians and Muslims dead.
However, the Nigerian authorities have taken no meaningful steps to address underlying grievances or, until recently, bring to justice those responsible for the bloodshed.
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http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/12/12/nigeria-turning-blind-eye-mass-killings
