Boko faces UN war crimes charges

GENEVA/MAIDUGURI: Nigeria's Boko Haram could face charges of crimes against humanity, the UN's human rights office warned yesterday, also urging the government to ensure civilians are not swept up in an army counter-offensive.
"Members of Boko Haram and other groups and entities, if judged to have committed widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population, including on grounds such as religion or ethnicity, could be found guilty of crimes against humanity," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"Deliberate acts leading to population 'cleansing' on grounds of religion or ethnicity could also amount to a crime against humanity," he told reporters.
Nigeria's military has launched an offensive against Boko Haram strongholds, after President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in three northeastern states following the militants' seizure of territory and declaration of war on the government.
Colville underlined that UN rights chief Navi Pillay had repeatedly slammed the "cowardly attacks" by Boko Haram against civilians, politicians, the security forces and foreign nationals.
But with Nigeria's military accused of massive rights violations in the past, including indiscriminate attacks on the ordinary population, there are warnings of a risk of high number of civilian deaths.
In northeast Nigeria meanwhile soldiers shelled suspected camps of extremists in the first military action of a new offensive against the insurgents, killing at least 21 people, a security official said yesterday.
The fighting was in the Sambisa Forest Reserve, just south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which soldiers previously raided on the hunt for fighters belonging to Boko Haram. In another incident gunmen launched an assault on the hometown of one of Nigeria's former military rulers hundreds of miles away, attacking a police station and banks.
Soldiers started the attack on Sambisa Forest Reserve on Thursday, having previously converged in the area in advance of President Goodluck Jonathan's state of emergency decree affecting three states in the nation's northeast, a security official said. The shelling killed at least 21 suspected Islamic extremists, the official said. There was no independent confirmation of the assault or casualties.
"We are not going to leave the forest until it's over," the official said, referring to the emergency rule.
The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing military operation. Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, a military spokesman based in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, could not be immediately reached for comment yesterday.
In a related development, mobile phone service returned Friday morning to parts of northeast Nigeria after being cut Thursday. The security official told the AP that the service cut came on the orders of Nigeria's government and security forces as soldiers moved into the northeast to begin operations. The official said service likely would be shut off again.
Mobile phones have become the only real communication device in Nigeria for both voice calls and the Internet, as the state-run telephone company collapsed years ago. By cutting off service at towers, the military could stop extremists from receiving warnings or intelligence ahead of their operations. Authorities said Thursday they had no information about the service cutoff or refused to comment.
Nigeria's military and security forces have tracked fighters by their mobile phone signals in the past as well, prompting extremists from Boko Haram to attack mobile phone towers in the region.
Under the president's directive, soldiers have ultimate control over security matters in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Over the last few days, witnesses and AP journalists have seen convoys of soldiers in trucks and buses moving through the region, as well as trucks carrying armored personnel carriers. Jet fighters also have been seen flying low over Yola, the capital of Adamawa state.
This new military campaign comes on top of a previous massive deployment of soldiers and police to the region. That deployment failed to stop violence by Islamic extremists, who have killed more than 1,600 people since 2010, according to an AP count.
Jonathan's emergency decree, declared on Tuesday, allows civilian governments to remain in place. Adamawa state Gov. Murtala Nyako, who belongs to Jonathan's ruling People's Democratic Party, criticized the president's decision in a radio address Thursday night.
"I believe that the declaration has been a shock to the people of the state and others," Nyako said. "True, this state has witnessed a few criminal activities by armed hoodlums in the last few years, but so (have) other states in the federation."
That could be seen Thursday night in Daura, a rural town in Katsina state that's the home of former military ruler and perennial presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. There, far from the states under emergency rule, gunmen attacked a police station and at least two banks, witnesses said. Police officials declined to immediately comment about the attack yesterday.