Tag: flee

About 5,500 Nigerians have fled across the borders with Cameroon and Niger amid renewed clashes between the soldiers and Boko Haram insurgents, the UN’s refugee agency said yesterday.

The figure emerged as the insurgents attacked two Borno villages yesterday, killing no fewer than 18 people.

Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said that 4,000 people had fled to Cameroon since mid-January, and 1,500 to Niger.

In northern Cameroon, UN aid workers met with refugees from around the town of Banki, which lies just over the border in Nigeria.

“The refugees said their villages were bombed, that several people had been killed and that at least two villages were burnt to the ground,” Edwards told reporters.

The Federal Government imposed a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe State last May in a bid to crush the sect’s insurgency.

Thousands of people have fled across the borders or to other parts of Nigeria to avoid being caught up in the fighting, to escape attacks by militants or to flee what human rights groups say is a heavy handed government crackdown that has also affected civilians.

The new influx raises the number of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon to more than 12,400 — just over 2,000 of whom have been moved to camps deeper inside the country.

In Niger, meanwhile, those who have fled include 8,000 Nigerians and 30,000 Niger nationals who had been living in Nigeria.

The latest refugees there told UN aid workers that they had fled a village after its mosque was attacked, seven people were killed and 60 shops torched.

Most of the refugees were women and children, and were being hosted by the local community, Edwards said.

The UN has appealed to countries in the region to keep their borders open for Nigerians who need a haven, and not to send back any refugees.

Emergency rule has largely succeeded in pushing the militants out of towns and cities in the wider north but attacks are still frequent in some remote areas, particularly in the border regions.

Agency reports claimed that no fewer than 18 people were killed in the latest attack on Njaba and Kaya villages in Borno State by the Islamist sect.

Dozens of houses were burnt in the two villages, witnesses said yesterday.

The attacks came despite a military offensive aimed at stemming violence in vulnerable rural areas.

“Suddenly we heard gunshots in all directions and cries for help from women and children,” said Wovi Pogu, nursing a gunshot wound from the attack on Njaba in which 10 people were killed on Tuesday.

Five others were wounded in the village.

“As I entered my house, I was hit on leg and I fell down, but I dragged myself to a nearby shack where I hid until the shooting subsided,” he said, from his bed at a Maiduguri hospital.

Another resident, Wadai Mutah, said that Mude and Kwaljiri villages were similarly destroyed, but residents escaped unharmed.

Fighters from Boko Haram also shot dead eight people in Kaya village before razing it to the ground on Wednesday, witnesses said.

Col. Muhammadu Dole, spokesman for the military in the state, said he had no further details on the incidents.

The military offensive against the four-and-a-half-year-old insurgency that President Goodluck Jonathan ordered last May has pushed the rebels into remoter areas, but it has failed to stem the violence. It has also triggered reprisals on civilians.

Jonathan replaced his entire military command last week, after some embarrassing security lapses in rebel-affected areas, including an attack on the airport and military barracks in Maiduguri last month.

He also nominated Gen. Aliyu Mohammed, a former National Security Adviser (NSA), a s a minister.

He is tipped to take the defence portfolio.

Meanwhile, 21 communities of about five hundred men women and children of Jere Local Government Area of the state who abandoned their villages due to threats from Boko Haram have been given food items worth millions of naira by the state government.

Delivering the items to representatives of the community, the Commissioner of Justice, Shehu Lawan, said that the communities were not really attacked by Boko Haram but they ran due to fear of the sect.

According to him, the government had consulted with security agents and had perfected plans to protect these villagers who had been asked to go back to their villages with escorts and protection from soldiers.

Some of the items donated include 2,000 sleeping mats and blankets respectively, 100 matresses, 200 bags of rice and 100 jerry cans of groundnut oil.

The villages affected by the latest assault include Allay, Ngao, Fante, Gambari and Talbari.

Security agencies are working on fresh clues that Boko Haram leaders may have been relocating to Nigeria from Mali.

Some key operational bases of the sect, such as Kano, Bama, Potiskum, Damaturu and Maiduguri, are under watch because security agencies suspect that some Boko Haram (Western education is a sin) leaders are in hiding in these places.

But, despite the ceasefire announced by a faction of the sect, the Federal Government has ordered the military and other security agencies to be on the alert.

The Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke(SAN), said the government was waging a war against terrorism to avoid erosion of the nation’s democratic values.

Security agencies are working on fresh clues that Boko Haram leaders are retreating back to Nigeria from Mali where foreign forces, including Nigeria’s, have routed Islamist pushing to take over power. Mali is believed to be stronghold of al-Qaeda, which is believed to be backing the insurgency in some part of Nigeria.

A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We are sucking that the ceasefire by a faction of Boko Haram might be a consequence of the devastating effects of France and the UN Intervention Mission forces in Mali.

“There are intelligence reports indicating that some key leaders of the sect have retreated to Nigeria from Mali. That is why we have placed some of their operational bases under watch, despite the ceasefire. These bases are in Kano, Bama, Potiskum, Damaturu and Maiduguri, among other border towns.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “The government is cautious on the declaration of ceasefire because it might be a ploy by the retreating Boko Haram leaders to regain the control of lost bases and unleash more devastating mayhem on the country.

“We cannot afford to take things for granted or be carried away by the proclamation of a ceasefire. The Chief of Defence Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibrhim Ola Sa’ad, has asked Boko Haram leaders to prove their commitment to the ceasefire within 30 days.”

Another source said: “In spite of the ceasefire, security agencies have been directed to mount water-tight security in volatile states in the Northeast and Northwest.

“So, we will increase the tempo of the present security arrangement in terror-prone states. The recent change of GOCs and top military commanders of some the Army, the Air Force and the Navy is part of plans to step up security nationwide.”

Adoke yesterday gave an insight into why the government has been fighting Boko Haram and other terror-related organisations.

Adoke , who spoke at a two-day peace and security summit of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, said the government cannot handover victory to terrorists.

“There is no doubt that challenges to internal security can erode democratic gains and indeed our mutual co-existence as a pluralistic society.

“The wanton and indiscriminate deprivation of innocent lives and the infliction of harm on countless others by the wave of attacks carried out by the terrorist group, known as Boko Haram coupled with the spate of kidnappings in the country must be seen as direct attacks on the core values of democratic governance, namely the rule of law; the protection of the dignity of human beings; mutual respect among people of different faith and peaceful resolution of conflict.

Adoke said: “Although, views differ on the approaches that have been adopted in our fight against terrorism and the relative successes so far recorded, we are mindful of the need to ensure that our core democratic values are not eroded in the process, to do that would amount to handing victory to the terrorists

“As a democrat, I firmly believe in the sustainable approach we have adopted in the current challenges. Our strategy aims to: protect individuals and communities; stabilise existing conflicts and discontentment; counter- harmful and extremist sentiments and ideologies; and deploy adequate response to economic and social insecurities that contribute to the growth of terrorism.

“Notwithstanding the initiatives already enumerated, the Federal Government is always open to constructive ideas on how best to confront these challenges.”