Troops accused of abuses in raids on Islamic sect

Residents of the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri say soldiers and policemen have brutalized citizens, made arbitrary arrests and stolen money and belongings in raids meant to capture members of a radical Islamic sect.



The charges come more than a year after a deadly crackdown on the sect, known as Boko Haram, in the same city, during which human rights groups say innocent people were shot dead.



The military earlier this year deployed a task force – dubbing the action “Operation Flush” - to combat sect members, but residents of Maiduguri (the Borno State capital) said troops broke into homes and arbitrarily arrested males, often demanding money from those arrested in exchange for release.



On 9 December, residents said, soldiers stormed homes in Zinnari neighbourhood and arrested 60 men; the raid came shortly after an attack by suspected Islamic militants in which a military patrol vehicle was burnt.



“Scores of gun-toting soldiers and policemen moved from door to door shortly after the attack, beating and arresting young men they accused of involvement,” Hashidu Idris, a resident of the neighbourhood, told IRIN.



A resident who did not want to be named for fear of harassment said his arm was broken when soldiers beat him in a raid on his house on 9 December; he said he spent two days in detention without medical attention.



In the Jajere neighbourhood residents said troops had robbed families during a raid.



“Soldiers broke into homes waking people up, seizing money and cell phones,” Jajere resident Sherif Bukari said. “It is unfortunate that the people deployed to protect us have turned against us.”



Musa Kyari, a resident of the Bulunkutu Dala area of the city, said he and scores of other residents arrested in the operation had to pay US$133 each to be released from police custody.



Abuse allegations rejected



Military and police officials in Maiduguri confirmed the raids but denied allegations of abuse by security operatives. They said part of the challenge of finding sect members was that people were afraid to talk.



“The military launched raids on neighbourhoods suspected to be harbouring Boko Haram militants [and] several people were arrested for interrogation, but allegations of abuse by soldiers are false,” Abubakar Abdullahi, military spokesman in Maiduguri, told IRIN.



“We always investigate such claims and usually find them to be untrue. Our men conduct raids professionally in accordance with military ethics and hand over suspects to the police for investigation as required by law.”



The raids are necessary because residents are not willing to report on sect members in their midst, Borno State police commissioner Mohammed Jinjiri Abubakar said.



"We have no option but to raid any neighbourhood where security personnel are attacked, because residents are not willing to report on [the offenders].”



He added: "We understand [residents’] reluctance is out of fear that the group would attack them if they cooperate with us, despite our repeated assurances that their identities would be protected.”



The fear is warranted. After the Borno State government offered a cash reward to any resident providing information to help the authorities find Boko Haram members, the sect distributed flyers in the city threatening to kill any resident who provided such information to police.



Maiduguri resident Madugu Hamidu said several local chiefs were killed for helping police fight the Islamic group last year.



Protection of rights



Human rights monitors say the military task force’s actions have created a “climate of fear”.



“It is unacceptable that the Operation Flush task force should act without restraint,” Shehu Sani, director of a leading rights group in northern Nigeria, Civil Rights Congress, said in a 14 December statement. “They must resist the temptation of violating the rights of citizens under the guise of fighting religious fanatics.”



“We understand the imperative to maintain law and order and safeguard peace and security in Maiduguri against religious violence and extremism but it must be done within the ambit of the law and respect for the constitutional rights of the citizenry,” Sani said.



Residents with grievances from the recent raids said they had little hope of getting justice. As with the man with the broken arm, most are afraid to report abuses by security forces. They also said that as there has been no punishment for alleged indiscriminate killings during last year’s major crackdown, people did not expect to get far with charges of theft, beatings and arbitrary arrests.



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