Amnesty alleges military’s sloppiness in attacks on Borno towns

AMNESTY International has alleged that the  military was repeatedly warned of impending Boko Haram attacks on Baga and Monguno and yet failed to take adequate action to protect civilians.

 Both incidents resulted in the death of  hundreds.

  As the  African Union’s Peace and Security Council discusses the likely deployment of a regional force against Boko Haram Thursday, the organisation has however insisted that such force must respect human rights.

The rights group said a senior military source and other evidence it gathered, revealed that commanders at the military base in Baga regularly informed military headquarters in November and December last year of the threat of a Boko Haram attack requesting  reinforcements a good number of time.

Amnesty International’s Africa Director,  Netsanet Belay,  in a statement made available to The Guardian, explained that other military sources and witnesses had the global body that the military in Monguno had an advanced warning of the Boko Haram attack on 25 January.

“It is clear from this evidence that Nigeria’s military leadership woefully and repeatedly failed in their duty to protect civilians of Baga and Monguno despite repeated warnings about an impending threat posed by Boko Haram. These attacks are an urgent wake-up call for the Nigerian leadership, the African Union and the international community. It is essential to protect hundreds of thousands of civilians in north east Nigeria from Boko Haram’s continued onslaught,” Belay stated.