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"Nigerian Authorities Failed to Act on Warnings about Boko Haram Raid on School" - Amnesty International
Boko Haram's abduction of the schoolgirls
in Chibok has prompted outrage in
© PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images
SUMMARY
*Amnesty International reveals Nigerian security forces received multiple advanced warnings about Boko Haram raid on Chibok
*Despite the warnings more than four hours before the
assault, no reinforcements were sent to the town
*The assault included the abduction of more than 240
schoolgirls, a war crime
*Many of the girls remain in captivity, their whereabouts
unknown
Amnesty
International urges Nigerian authorities to use all lawful means to rescue the
girls and protect civilians
“It amounts to a gross dereliction of
Source: Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Africa Director, Research and Advocacy
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May 5, 2014 - Testimonies gathered by Amnesty
International reveal that Nigerian security forces failed to act on advance
warnings about Boko Haram’s armed raid on the state-run boarding school in
Chibok which led to the abduction of more than 240 schoolgirls on 14-15
April.
After independently verifying information
based on multiple interviews with credible sources, the organization today
revealed that the Nigerian security forces had more than four hours of advance
warning about the attack but did not do enough to stop it.
“The fact that Nigerian security forces
knew about Boko Haram’s impending raid, but failed to take the immediate action
needed to stop it, will only amplify the national and international outcry at
this horrific crime,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Africa
Director, Research and Advocacy.
“It amounts to a gross dereliction of
Amnesty International has confirmed through
various sources that
But an inability to muster troops – due to
poor resources and a reported fear of engaging with the often better-equipped
armed groups – meant that reinforcements were not deployed to Chibok that
night. The small contingent of security forces based in the town – 17 army
personnel as well as local police –attempted to repel the Boko Haram assault
but were overpowered and forced to retreat. One soldier reportedly died.
More than three weeks later, the majority
of the girls remain in captivity in an unknown location. A climate of confusion
and suspicion has so far scuppered efforts to secure their release.
Amnesty International reiterates its call
on Boko Haram to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages into
safety and stop all attacks on civilians.
“The abduction and continued detention of
these school girls are war crimes, and those responsible must be brought to
justice. Attacks on
schools also violate the right to education and must be halted
immediately,” said Netsanet Belay.
Warnings Ignored
Between 7:00 PM on 14 April and 2:00 AM on
15 April, the military commands in Damboa, 36.5 km away from Chibok, and
According to sources interviewed by Amnesty
International, local civilian patrols (known as “vigilantes”, set up by the military
and local authorities) in Gagilam, a neighbouring village, were among the first
to raise the alarm on the evening of 14 April after a large group of
unidentified armed men entered their village on motorbikes and said they were
headed to Chibok. This set off a rapid chain of phone calls to alert officials,
including the Borno State Governor and senior military commanders based in
One local official who was contacted by
Gagilam residents told Amnesty International: “At around 10:00 PM on 14 April,
I called [several] security officers to inform them about earlier information I
had received from the vigilantes in Gagilam village. They had told us that
strange people had arrived in their village that evening on motorbikes and they
said they were heading to Chibok. I made several other calls, including to
Another local official was contacted by
herdsmen who said that armed men had asked where the
At around 11:45 PM, a convoy reportedly
numbering up to 200 armed Boko Haram fighters – on motorbikes and in trucks –
arrived in Chibok town and engaged in a gunfight with a small number of police
and soldiers based there. Outnumbered and outgunned, the security forces
eventually fled in the small hours of 15 April. Some of the Boko Haram fighters
proceeded to the
Two senior officers in
"There’s a lot of frustration,
exhaustion and fatigue among officers and [troops] based in the hotspots…many
soldiers are afraid to go to the battle fronts.”
Amnesty International’s requests for a
reaction from the military headquarters in
Since the 14 April raid, a climate of
confusion and suspicion appears to have slowed down the Nigerian authorities’
efforts to locate and free the abducted schoolgirls. On 16 April, a senior
Defence Ministry spokesperson said that almost all of the abducted girls had
been rescued and only eight were still missing. The next day he had to retract
that statement.
“The climate of suspicion and lack of
transparency about the rescue effort has been unhelpful – all authorities must
work together to ensure the girls are brought home safely and more must be done
to protect civilians in future,” said Netsanet Belay.
Amnesty International is calling on the
Nigerian government to provide adequate information to families of abducted
girls on the authorities’ current efforts to ensure their safe release. The
families – and the abducted girls, once they are freed – must be provided with
adequate medical and psychological support.
Background
The information on the advance warnings of
the impending Boko Haram attack in Chibok came from multiple sources, including
local officials and two senior military officers, interviewed by Amnesty
International. The sources independently verified a list of Nigerian officials
who were alerted on 14-15 April, before and during the raid on the
The abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok
comes amid months of worsening violence and serious human rights violations and
abuses being committed by armed Islamist groups and Nigerian government forces
alike in the conflict in north-eastern
Amnesty International’s research indicates
that at least 2,000 people have been killed in the conflict in
In a separate incident on 5 May, at least
eight girls were abducted by gunmen in the Warabe and Wala communities in
north-eastern
Also on 5 May, more than 200 people were
killed in Gamboru, Ngala, Borno state, when an armed group traveling in two
armoured cars opened fire on a market in broad daylight. The attack began
around 1:30pm and lasted several hours, and the armed group torched market
stalls, vehicles and nearby homes and shops.
Despite such ongoing attacks, the Nigerian
authorities have failed to adequately investigate the killings and abductions,
bring suspected perpetrators to justice, or prevent further attacks.
At the same time, the government continues
to unlawfully detain hundreds of people suspected of links with Boko Haram in
military detention and is denying them access to lawyers. The majority of those
detained around the country are held without criminal charges, and many have
been extrajudicially executed by security forces before facing trial.