Boko Haram Members Are War Criminals – UN …Army Kills Seven In Borno

Executive Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mr Newton Ordia (left), with Chairman, Forum of Advocates for Social Housing, Mr Ezekiel Nya-Etok, at the 4th Annual National Social Housing Seminar in Abuja last Friday.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists could be classed as war criminals, the United Nations human rights office said yesterday, as it condemned a bloody attack on a wedding convoy.
“Members of Boko Haram and other groups and entities, if judged to have committed widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population … (could be) guilty of crimes against humanity,” said Cecile Pouilly, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Islamist insurgents have killed dozens of people over recent days in restive northeast Nigeria, first storming a town on motorbikes and pick-up trucks and then carrying out highway ambushes.
Boko Haram gunmen were blamed for last Saturday’s slaying of more than 30 people, including the groom, when a wedding convoy was halted on a road near the border with Cameroon.
Pouilly called the wedding convoy attack “atrocious” and condemned Boko Haram’s campaign of “cowardly attacks” against civilians, politicians, members of government institutions, foreigners and the security forces.
In May, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency across the northeast and launched an offensive aimed at crushing  the Islamists’ four-year uprising that has claimed thousands of lives since 2009.
Human rights groups have also slammed government troops for killing civilians and for other violations in the battle zone.
“We are also following up closely with the Nigerian authorities allegations of abuses and human rights violations which may have been committed by security forces when conducting operations,” said Pouilly.
She noted that the Nigerian military was in the process of finalising a report on people detained in connection with the insurgency, and urged the government to disclose its findings.
“We also call on the Nigerian government to ensure that security forces act in conformity with the law and avoid excessive use of force when conducting operations,” she added.
Meanwhile, the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, said it shot dead seven suspected Boko Haram militants in a renewed onslaught in suspected hideouts of the insurgents in Borno State.
Lt.-Col. Mohammad Dole, the spokesman of the division, disclosed this in a statement  in Maiduguri, yesterday.
According to him, “in simultaneous operations conducted by troops from 5 Brigade at Ngala axis and 21 Brigade at general area of Bama last Monday, the military recorded huge successes as seven suspected Boko Haram militants were killed and several others injured.
” A total of 13 vehicles and several motorcycles belonging to the terrorists were destroyed. “Some of the vehicles destroyed contained Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) meant to be detonated in some towns and villages within the state.” “Several arms and ammunition were also captured,” Dole said.