10/21/2018
Boko Haram kills 12 farmers with machetes in Nigeria
Terror against civilian population continues (Press Release)
![[Translate to Englisch:] https://www.flickr.com/photos/boellstiftung/16217447877](fileadmin/_processed_/9/0/csm_Buhari__Heinrich-B%C3%B6ll-Stiftung___Flickr_795c69c78e.jpg)
[Translate to Englisch:] Staatspräsident Buhari hatte nach seiner Wahl im Jahr 2015 mehrfach versprochen, den Kampf gegen Boko Haram zur obersten Priorität seiner Regierung zu erklären und die Terrorgruppe innerhalb kürzester Zeit zu zerschlagen. Bild: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has accused Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari of playing down the ongoing threats by Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram against the civilian population. On Friday, the president stated that the brutal activities of Boko Haram will soon be history. Only a few hours later, on Saturday morning, members of the terrorist group murdered 12 farmers with machetes near the city of Maiduguri, Borno State. "Nigeria must finally protect the civilian population from Boko Haram's terror. Buhari has been promising tangible measures against Boko Haram ever since his election in 2015. But their terror continues," stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Sunday.
On Saturday morning, Boko Haram fighters raided the village of Kuwa-Yangewa near Maiduguri, the provincial capital, blindsiding a group of peasant farmers. Surviving women reported that the attackers had spared them and sent them away. However, they attacked the 16 men who were working in the fields with machetes. Twelve people were killed, and some of the bodies were dismembered. Four people survived the attack, but were seriously injured. According to Nigeria's army, only two people got killed in the terrorist attack.
The human rights organization strongly criticized the information policy of the army and the authorities. "Playing down the extent of Boko Haram's terror will not make the civilian population more confident," Delius emphasized.
After his election in 2015, President Buhari had repeatedly promised to make the fight against Boko Haram the top priority of his government – promising that the terrorist group would be smashed within a very short time. Now, the STP criticizes that Buhari is still making the same implausible promises in the scope of his campaign for the elections in 2019. Five days ago, Boko Haram had caused a global outcry by executing a kidnapped Red Cross helper as the government was not prepared to enter negotiations regarding her release.
Header image: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung via Flickr
