Nigerian army taken to task over massacre

Unexpected revulsion at death of 200 civilians

MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA

Days later, the survivors’ faces tensed at the memory of the grim evening: soldiers dousing thatched-roof homes with gasoline, torching them and shooting residents when they tried to flee. As the village rose up in smoke, one said, a soldier threw a child back into the flames.

Houses were burned in what Nigerian authorities said was heavy fighting between security forces and Islamist militants in Baga, a fishing town on the shores of Lake Chad, last week.

even by the scorched-earth standards of the Nigerian military’s campaign against Islamist insurgents stalking the nation’s north, what happened on the muddy shores of Lake Chad appears exceptional.

The town found itself in the crosshairs of Nigerian soldiers enraged by the killing of one of their own, said survivors who fled to the Borno state capital, 160 kilometres south. As many as 200 residents, maybe more, were killed during the military’s rampage, according to refugees, senior relief workers, civilian officials and human rights organizations.

The apparent size of the civilian death toll — staunchly denied by military officials, some of whom blame the insurgent group, Boko Haram, for the carnage — has prompted an unusual uproar.

Though heavy civilian casualties are routine in the military’s fight with Boko Haram, Nigeria’s politicians usually have little to say about it. Past massacres of civilians in retaliation for soldier deaths have passed largely with impunity.

This time, there have been calls in the national assembly for an investigation and the government has come under withering criticism at home and abroad. The military has said it has begun its own inquiry and some long-standing observers of the country’s battle against Islamists say a tipping point may have been reached.

“This is coming at a time when we have had similar situations” elsewhere, said Kole Shettima, chairman of the Centre for Democracy and Development in the capital, Abuja.

“People are tired of the excuses the military is giving and that’s why they are demanding an investigation. This time it’s different. There is a crisis of legitimacy in the military.”

But in a country where corruption abounds and accountability is rare, others wondered whether it would truly become a watershed moment — or get brushed aside as an unfortunate side effect of fighting a dangerous insurgency.

“This Baga is just on a bigger scale, but [the military] have been doing this for ages,” said the Borno governor, Kashim Shettima, one of the first officials to reach Baga afterward.

“They’ve not adhered to the rules of engagement,” said Mr. Shettima, who is not related to the democracy advocate. “When you burn down shops and massacre civilians, you are pushing them to join the camp of Boko Haram.”

yet, he continued, “We are in a Catch-22 situation.” Boko Haram is a deadly insurgent force that needs to be confronted, the governor said, but not by a military that terrorizes its own people. “We need them to carry out their duties in a civilized manner.”

some Baga residents who did not perish in the flames drowned while attempting to escape into Lake Chad.

“They poured gasoline on the properties. At the same time, they are shooting sporadically, inside the fire,” said Isa Kukulala, 26, a bus driver.

“They took a small child from his mother and threw him inside the fire. This is what I have witnessed.”

AFP / GETTY IMAGES Women and children stand in front of burned houses in the remote town of Baga after two days of clashes between the Nigerian army and members of Islamist sect Boko Haram in mid-April. The army then retaliated for the death of a soldier.