Reflecting on the 2014 massacre in Maiduguri
“The blood dried, the rains came but justice remains elusive for the Giwa 640”
“The soldiers asked the people to lie on the ground…a few minutes later they started shooting [them]. I counted 198 people killed at that checkpoint,” a man told Amnesty International, recalling the round-up of detainees who had escaped from Giwa barracks exactly two years ago”.
The people killed are just some of the more than 640 men and boys slaughtered by the Nigerian Army on 14 March 2014. Most were shot, but some had their throats cut and tossed into open mass graves.
Two years on, not a single person has been held to account for this atrocity.
The jailbreak that preceded this carnage in Maiduguri in March 2014 occurred when Boko Haram attacked Giwa barracks in the early hours of the morning. Hundreds of detainees were released. The fighters fled with any detainees who wanted to join the group.
The Nigerian military responded with murder. Many of the 1,600 detainees at Giwa were there after arrested in so-called ‘screening’ operations in which entire communities were rounded-up and young males picked out, without any evidence they had committed a crime. They were detained for months without charge or trial.
In several locations around the city residents tried to help these hungry, thirsty and weak boys and men. As they did so the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) and the military arrived and rearrested them. Once back in custody, soldiers shot them in the streets, or took them out of town and killed them. The bodies were buried in mass graves.
Despite video and photographic evidence, the dozens of witness accounts collected by Amnesty International (AI) and satellite images of mass graves, these killings have never been independently investigated.
The massacre at Giwa and the failure to hold anyone to account is a stark reminder of the culture of impunity that exists for human rights violations in Nigeria. The horrific acts committed by Boko Haram must end and perpetrators of crimes under international law in its ranks must be punished. But their horrific acts cannot and should not be used to justify the Nigerian military’s unlawful conduct and human rights violations.
A report by Amnesty International last year documented war crimes committed by the Nigerian military. The organisation found that between 2012 and 2014, the military executed at least 1,200 men and boys, even as 7,000 people have died in custody since March 2011. Detainees described being so desperately thirsty that they drank urine, and watching fellow inmates die after their cells were fumigated with chemicals.
After these shocking findings were made public, President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to investigate, saying: “This administration will leave no stone unturned to promote the rule of law, and deal with all cases of human rights abuses.”
Why then, have two years passed without answers given to the families of the men and boys murdered at Giwa? Why do war crimes continue to go unpunished?The question is not one for Nigeria alone.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced in November 2015 that there is sufficient evidence of crimes within its jurisdiction to warrant investigations. This is Nigeria’s responsibility. However, if the government is unwilling or unable to investigate, the ICC must step in.
Nigeria’s international partners also need to consider the consequences of their military support. Many nations, including the UK and the USA, provide arms, training and advice to the Nigerian military. Any state which provides such assistance must carry out due diligence to ensure that it does not run an overriding risk of facilitating serious violations of human rights. The international community must not overlook these responsibilities.
Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Nigerian Government to investigate allegations of war crimes, but after nine months, President Buhari is yet to show that he plans to pay anything more than lip service to these allegations. The perpetrators of massacres – not just at Giwa but at Bama, Damataru, Baga and Potiskum are still at large.
Meanwhile, a lack of urgently needed reform means the Nigerian Army continues to use unjustified lethal force against innocent civilians. From Giwa to Zaria, from the north-east to the south-east, the time has come to break the cycle of impunity that has gripped Nigeria.
To mark the anniversary of this Giwa barracks massacre, Amnesty International campaigners will be gathering outside Nigerian embassies around the world to call for independent investigations and prosecutions.
This call is echoed by the families and relatives of the Giwa 640. Many of them have now come to terms with the fact that their loved ones are dead and who is responsible for their deaths.
Netsanet Belay is Research Advocacy Director for Africa for Amnesty International.
