Violence in Lake Chad Basin persists – institute

Violence in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria persists despite increasing development, peace-building and humanitarian projects since the crisis started more than a decade ago, says the Institute for Security Studies.

CAPE TOWN, June 17 (ANA) – Violence in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria persists despite increasing development, peace-building and humanitarian projects since the crisis started more than a decade ago, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ISS said responses to violent extremism in the Lake Chad Basin are growing in both number and nature.

“For stability and recovery, the many actors working in the region must collaborate to meet communities’ needs,” said Akinola Olojo, senior researcher, Lake Chad Basin programme.

“The mutual mistrust between civilians and the military is complicated by the punitive action often taken by Boko Haram against community members who co-operate with security forces. Soldiers are suspicious of those they accuse of aiding Boko Haram to sabotage the army’s efforts,” he said.

Communities distrust the military for making blanket accusations against suspected Boko Haram members and collaborators, resulting in arbitrary arrests and detention, forced evictions, and extrajudicial killings. Some military strategies against Boko Haram have had unintended consequences that deepen community mistrust.

“For instance, Lake Chad Basin governments have attempted to limit the group’s access to vital supplies. Bans on human, vehicular and even boat movements in certain areas and at certain times have been devastating for civilian livelihoods,” Olojo said.

Terrorist group Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in north-eastern Nigeria which quickly spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

Violence committed by the rebel group has affected more than 20 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced more than two million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The governments of the four basin countries, including Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, have taken measures to address the conflict, which has raged for over a decade, the UN agency said.

According to the ISS, in Nigeria’s north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, a 2019 ban on transporting solid fertiliser has crippled thousands of households, many of whom include farmers who depend on this to cultivate crops. The prohibition on cultivating and marketing red peppers in the Diffa region of Niger has been similarly debilitating.

Differences in the way information is managed and communicated also make civil/military co-operation difficult. Soldiers are reluctant to share details about their strategies against Boko Haram, and civilians don’t always agree with the military’s interpretation of the situation on the ground.

“For example, the military could describe a situation as ‘calm’ or ‘under control’ when in fact, civilians continue to be victims of looting, abductions and other violations,” Olojo explained.

Co-ordination challenges between the military and humanitarian actors affect both state and non-state entities. Insufficient military personnel and equipment to escort government-led humanitarian missions mean that a single trip must sometimes be broken down into several smaller tasks. This has financial, time and emergency implications. Transporting humanitarian items in multiple small missions increases fuel costs, takes much longer and delays the delivery of supplies to those in urgent need, the ISS said.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher