Politics

Amnesty Int’l accuses Nigerian Army of unlawful detention of female terror escapees

Published

5 months ago

June 12, 2024

Rights organization, Amnesty International, has accused the Nigerian army of unlawfully holding young women and children who had escaped from Boko Haram’s captivity because the military thought they were affiliated with the Islamist militant group.

The human rights group claimed that the charges, which the military refuted in a statement, were based on 126 interviews conducted with female former hostages between 2019 and 2024.

According to research by Amnesty International, 31 people claimed that between 2015 and mid-2023, they were forcibly detained in military barracks for a few days to nearly four years, mostly due to their actual or suspected ties to Boko Haram.

The United Nations claims that Boko Haram’s armed insurgency in northeastern Nigeria has claimed the lives of over 35,000 people. The group has a nasty reputation and has been charged with rape, forced marriage, torture, and kidnapping. The most well-known incidence occurred in 2014 when 300 girls were abducted from Chibok.

More girls have been kidnapped since then, and many of them have lived with Boko Haram fighters for years. A few have managed to get away.

“The Nigerian government has failed to uphold their human rights obligations to protect and adequately support these girls and young women,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa, in the report.

According to Major General Edward Buba, the defence spokesperson, the military adheres to humanitarian law and protects human rights. According to a statement from the spokesperson, Nigeria’s military “operates within the ambit of international law of armed conflict.”

The Nigerian military has counterattacked the Islamist organization, drawing condemnation for its harsh tactics. The military conducted a covert mass abortion program as part of its fight against Boko Haram, according to a Reuters report from the previous year.

Related Topics:Amnesty International Featured Nigeria

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Politics

Ivory Coast: Ex-minister challenges ex-Credit Suisse boss Thiam for presidency

Published

1 hour ago

October 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Jean-Louis Billon, the former commerce minister of Ivory Coast, announced on Friday that he would challenge party head and former CEO of Credit Suisse, Tidjane Thiam, for the opposition PDCI party’s candidacy in the country’s 2025 presidential election.

The PDCI party, which dominated Ivory Coast from independence until the late 1990s but has had difficulty regaining power because of internal strife, may become even more divided due to Billon’s choice to run.

Thiam just won the PDCI leadership contest and returned to the country that produces the most cocoa worldwide.

His triumph stoked rumours that he may challenge or succeed President Alassane Ouattara. Neither man has made an official announcement about his plans.

Historically, the PDCI’s presidential candidate has been the organization’s leader.

The 59-year-old Billon was Ouattara’s trade minister and the former head of SIFCA, Ivory Coast’s leading agro-industrial organisation. In order to fairly choose the party’s presidential candidate, he demanded that a PDCI convention be held.

“I hope that this convention will be democratic, honest, and transparent, with no tricks or favouritism, no violence, and free from any tribal bias,” Billon said in a statement

Politics

Sources suggest Sahel jihadis finding safety in Ghana

Published

2 days ago

October 24, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to seven sources cited by Reuters, Islamist militants in Burkina Faso are covertly utilising Ghana’s north as a medical and logistical rear camp to maintain their insurgency. This could allow them to increase their presence in West Africa.

According to the sources, which include regional diplomats and Ghanaian security officials, Ghanaian authorities seem to be largely ignoring the insurgents who are crossing over from neighbouring Burkina Faso to obtain food, fuel, and even explosives, as well as to receive medical attention for wounded fighters.

However, they said that strategy runs the risk of enabling terrorists to establish themselves in Ghana and recruit in some marginalised local areas, even though it has so far spared the country from the kind of devastating Islamist attacks that have afflicted its neighbours.

Ghana and Burkina Faso, which is at the centre of an insurgency that has killed thousands, displaced millions, and, according to some experts, made the Sahel region the epicentre of global terrorism as groups loyal to al Qaeda and Islamic State increase their presence, share a 600-kilometre (372-mile) border.

With the rise of JNIM, a pro-al Qaeda organisation, Burkina Faso has lost control of more than half of its territory. This week, a JNIM senior told French station RFI that the organization’s goal was to expand into Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Unlike Benin and Togo, Ghana has not experienced a significant attack.

Ghana’s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Boniface Gambila Adagbila, told Reuters that the militants were exploiting Ghana’s open borders and viewed the country as a “haven.”

However, he refuted claims that the government had inadvertently reached a non-aggression pact with the jihadists.

According to him, Ghana and Burkina Faso were collaborating to “flush them out”.

Since the beginning of October, attacks on companies have resulted in at least three fatalities and four injuries, according to an official.