Human Rights group Amnesty International has released a damning report highlighting immense levels of human rights abuse on the part of the Nigerian military, allegedly committed during its resistance against a six-year long Boko Haram insurgency. The report sheds light on more than 8000 civilian causalities attributed to the country’s armed forces; through measures include torture, starvation, suffocation, and murder.

The prominent London-based NGO has further shifted blame to nine top officials within the military, whom they believe should be investigated for war crimes. In addition, the group has also called on the country’s newly elected leader, Muhammadu Buhari to lead an investigation into alleged human rights abuses.

The report is based off more than 400 interviews with victims, witnesses, human rights activists and military sources, conducted during six missions to key affected areas. Video and photographic evidence, as well as 800 internal military documents were also used to draft the report.

Amnesty’s senior director for research, Anna Neistat said the document presented by the group served as amongst its most comprehensive, containing 130 pages of ‘detailed and horrendous’ evidence. Allegations included deaths in custody, enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions to name but a few.

For those civilians detained by the military, conditions bordered on inhumane. Apart from 70 people packed into a single cell meant to hold no more than 10, water was also restricted to detainees, and cells were regularly fumigated with chemicals.

“Whatever abuse you take that are listen in this report…we do present the information and knowledge the military command had about it (as well), and their complete failure to act,” she noted.

Neistat revealed that whilst it was understandable the military were seeking to oppose a major threat to the country’s national security, war crimes need not be fought with more war crimes. She stressed the report need be taken in collaboration with a previous Amnesty report, highlighting equally horrific abuses committed by Boko Haram.

“We are making the point that with an enemy like that, it only places more responsibility on the Nigerian government to not undermine their own commitment to rule of law, international human rights and international humanitarian law,” she stressed.

Having interacted with Buhari, and based on several speech conducted by the recently elected head of state, Neistat said they had gotten some sense of commitment that the country would seek to address the issue.

“We do believe it is a systemic problem. It is important to emphasise that with the help of the documents and the evidence we are able to name nine high level military officials, but we are by no means suggesting they are the only ones who need to be investigated,” she explained.

The nine officials include both current and former Chief of Staff, as well as the current and former Chief of Defence Staff. They are being held accountable on the basis of ‘command responsibility’.

In addition, it includes three Major Generals, and two Brigadier Generals, deemed to have had direct command of troops in the areas where violations were documented.

The report states that since the escalation of Boko Haram’s insurgency, 20 000 Nigerians have been arbitrarily detained. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)