LAGOS
The Nigerian military has dismissed as "totally untrue" accusations by an international rights watchdog that government troops – currently embroiled in a prolonged conflict with Boko Haram insurgents – were committing war crimes and grave rights abuses.
"We cannot understand these claims of human rights abuses against our men who are putting their lives in danger to ensure the safety of the masses," army spokesman Chris Olukolade told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
In a report dated March 31, the London-based Amnesty International asserted that increasing Boko Haram attacks and "uncontrolled reprisals" by security forces had killed at least 1500 people – more than half of them civilians – in the first quarter of 2014.
"The scale of atrocities carried out by Boko Haram is truly shocking, creating a climate of fear and insecurity," the report stated.
"But this cannot be used to justify the brutality of the response that is clearly being meted out by the Nigeria's security forces," it added.
Amnesty went on to cite a daring March 14 attack by Boko Haram militants on a military barracks in Maiduguri, provincial capital of Borno State, aimed at freeing hundreds of detained group members.
"Amnesty International has received credible evidence that, as the military regained control, more than 600 people, mostly unarmed recaptured detainees, were extra-judicially executed in various locations across Maiduguri," it said.
"The international community cannot continue to look the other way in the face of extrajudicial executions, attacks on civilians, and other crimes under international law being committed on a mass scale," Amnesty asserted.
The Nigerian army spokesman, however, deemed the report "unfair and totally untrue."
Olukolade said government troops were constantly reminded of the need to respect human rights and ensure that no innocent person is harmed.
"We have some of the most professional soldiers in the world," he insisted.
"Our men understand and follow through on the rules of engagement, even as they engage faceless enemies who have wasted thousands of innocent lives and destroyed public infrastructure," Olukolade added.
A hitherto peaceful organization that had preached against government corruption, Boko Haram suddenly turned violent in 2009 following the murder of its leader, Mohamed Yusuf, while in police custody.
In the years since, the group has been blamed for thousands of terrorist acts, including attacks on churches and security posts across the country's north.
Although it claims to want an Islamist government in the region, Nigerian Muslims – most of whom reject Boko Haram as un-Islamic – have also been targeted by the militant group.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
englishnews@aa.com.tr
