Western Complicity and Future Risks

From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story I'm Anvin Rano Business as usual on Sunday, the tenth of May At the local market in a village in northern Nigeria. It was the busiest market day of the week and all the people from the village had come to trade goods, to sell and to buy the things they needed for the week. There's women selling things, there's little kids running around Louise Callahghan is a foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times Two sisters decided to go to the market Looking for tomatoes The names were Aisha and Amina Asisha was ten years old Suddenly, the busy hubub of the crowd was interrupted by the roar of a Nigerian military aircraft passing overhead Minutes later It returned. and dropped a bomb in the center of the market Aisha told me she couldn't remember what happened But suddenly everything went black The H human rights group said that at least a hundred civilians were killed Isisha's mother rushed to the scene O to find the bodies of Aisha's sister, Amina brrother. and uncles scattered among the remains Aisha was alive but badly burned One of dozens who'd been injured I met Aisha and her mother at a hospital. Aisha's lower body was covered in burns She was sat on a hospital bed. had dirty sheets and she had kind of her limbs splayed out so they didn't touch each other because they were so badly burnt Her face was also covered in burns This was the fourth such bombing in a month carried out by the Nigerian government The Nigerian military came out with a statement killed several terrorists who were meeting in the area They said A few days later They completely denied that civilians had been killed in the strike. the military insists there is no credible evidence to support claims that the operation resulted in civilian casualties We wanted to find out what reallyready happened So I went to Gooau a city a few hours from this village. where more than a dozen survivors of the strike were being treated Louise Callahghan has been to this remote and dangerous part of Nigeria too investigate why the government is killing its own citizens. And given their close military ties with the US and the UK Why more isn't being done to stop them The story today Nigeria is killing its own civilians Louise, you've just been to Zamfar state. in Nigeria where a lot of this was happening Describe what it's like. So Zamfur is a state in northwestern Nigeria. This is kind of Aid, scrubland, there's bobab trees growing everywhere. It's very beautiful Lgely rural quite a remote area. It feels far away from everything. And in recent years, it's been gripped by violence and instability as armed groups who are operating with impunity in the area really terrorize the civilians who live there It's dangerous to get to, but we managed to find a way So I drove in to Gusau along this road, which is plagued by almost daily attacks from armed groups and kidnappings. And we went into the town and managed to meet these survivors of this airstrike And Louise, why has that area become so unstable So a huge reason why it's so unstable in this area is just this lack of governance. There's very little government presence And in that vacuum, armed groups have gained power. So it's particularly these people that Nigerians call bandits Most of them are herders from the Fulani tribe, and for decades there has been this kind of tension. in between Castoralists who, you know, run their farms who are sedentary and then these herders who are kind of mobile and move around and they have conflicts over grazing for their cattle This old conflict in recent years over the last decade really has turned into something new. So as the Nigerian government and the armed forces have failed to control this area Bandits have managed to gain really significant power. And Louise, is there any sort of religious affiliation there? Because know from what you're describing, these are herders who are armed The government, when it describes the area, talks about militants Is that Boko Haram? Who are they? Right, so Northern Nigeria is this really kind of confusing to the outside a mix of armed groups and militants and Islamist insurgents at the moment. A lot of people probably remember the kidnapping of the Chubk schoolgirls in twenty fourteen In a video released today, the leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, standing in front of an armored car I abducted your girls So in the northeast of the country today, there are groups like L Bokca Haram Also an ISIS affiliate called ISWAP which is really powerful, growing in power all the time. So since the kidnapping of the Chibok girls, then northern Nigeria and actually, I mean large swathes of Nigeria now, have become lawless And in that lawlessness, groups like Bogca Haram, like IWap, and also these bandit groups are in a constant battle with the Nigerian arrmed Forces trying to exert control over larger and larger parts of the country and they are moving southwards. So if you think about Nigeria on a map, before around the time of the kidnapping of the Chubox school girls The instability was kind of centered in the northeast of the country Now that instability is spreading through so much of the country, whether it's Boko Haram or ISWap or the bandits, they are operating in much bigger areas than they used to before The bandits have been moving southwards looking for grazing for their cattle and a sort of wreaking havoc on the way When you say wreaking havoc, I mean just describe how bad it's got We just received the most extraordinary horrifying testimonies from people we spoke to in Zamfera. They said that the bandits, they kidnapped people. I mean, we're talking almost every day. They kidnap people who are just, you know trying to live their lives. I mean, these aren't amazingly high value targets. You know, this isn't rich people, it's not politicians. poor people who are trying to make a living in this area farmers, they're kidnapped They're extorted and these bandits with very few numbers, They can basically control and enslave large populations. So for example, we spoke to some displaced women. who told us that The bandits who had come to their village, taken everything they had Tell me tellell me what are they doing? Rush it up for be sa Bolts of fabric goats, things like that, just stolen everything from them and then effectively enslaved the men in the village say These people are subsistence farmers. they live only from what they can farm on their plot of land. But the bandits have taken them and taking them to their own lands forced them to work on their without paying them. so they'd enslave them there. I mean, it sounds horrifying and as you say, utterly lawless I know you've spoken to one of the men who was actually kidnapped by them What did he tell you I spoke to a young man called Abdraachman Hassan. He's a civil servant and a son of a local Eir in Zamfara. And a few years ago, he was kidnapped from his home. It was O a Sunday night around one AM I just had some people jumping through the fence. A group of bandits jumped over the walls around his house and they came and they took him from his bed. They broke the front do, broke the my bedroom door and they enter. He tried to fight them off But they dragged him away and they marched him for hours and hours. We For more than a hundred kilometers. Into the busush, into the busush. Now, when they had him there, they kept him for thirty nine days Every day, he was on the phone to his parents trying to negotiate the terms for his release. What did the bandits want from him? I mean, this isn't somebody they're using as a slave. No. What they wanted was a prisoner exchange So he was negotiating for a ransom, but in the end, he ended up being swapped. for some of their own people in a prisoner exchange And the point that he made, which I thought was really important, was that he was on the phone to his parents. powerful people in the area E every day. It would have been very easy to trace where he was, especially because the bandits, when they kidnapped people fnd to take them all to the same place. Everyone in the local area kept telling me, yeah, we know where they are So it should have been quite fair easy to figure out where he was But during the thirty nine days that he was there. No one attempted a rescue mission. and in the end He was released because his parents were able to negotiate a prisoner exchange Why was that? Why was there no help coming Well He believes the government were just reluctant to get involved, that it was a lack of political will, a lack of desire Do something And he actually he made such a good point I thought, which is that He was saying that if he'd ' gone on social media and posted an insult against someone who was really high ranking in politics or in the army. Maybe off his book. I insult someone as' high profile. Within mines Joa rescued. You, The authorities would have shown up in half an hour. know, they'd have been at his door But when he was held in this remote area, really suffering for thirty nine days No one really did anything And why is the government so reluctant to get involved. I mean, you'd think they'd want to be able to Have a grip on all of this area From my understanding, from speaking to bothoth to officials within the government, people in the armed forces First is that. The armed forces are overwhelmed. so let's not underplay that They've got operations in the majority of Nigeria states, in fact, in almost all of them So the scale of the challenge they're facing is enormous And of course, the Nigerian armed forces do carry out operations to rescue people who've been kidnapped. It's not that they're doing nothing. It's that they are not doing enough to respond to the scale of the problem I suppose that starts to explain what happened in that market in May know, if they are having to resort to quite desperate use of their defense forces Just tell us what we know about what the government thought they were targeting in the market that day So the arrmed Forces put out the statement after the attack, saying that they had been targeting a high level meeting of militants that was taking place So from the survivors that I spoke to There are a few different points of view. So the people who were inside the market, so that's mostly the women and children None of them had seen any bandits that day recognizable as being armed men walking around. But I did speak to some men who were working in a motorcycle taxi stand that was kind of on the outside of the market And they said, yes, earlier in the day We saw some bandits who were there, but they left So What they said was that the aircraft from the Nigerian Armed forces had flown over once, probably for reconnaissance And then later it had come back and dropped the bomb And then so these men on the outside of the market told me that the first time I went over, the banders immediately understood what was happening and they left. They drove away on their motorcycles So by the time the aircraft came back and dropped the bomb They said there were no bounders there So the only people who are hit are innocent civilians and yet The government puts out a statement saying it was targeting militence and no Children, no innocent civilians were killed, which just extraordinary And this isn't an isolated incident. I mean, just tell us how often this is happening. What do we know about the bombings that are taking place out there? Right, exactly. so this problem of civilians being killed in asteroks has existed for a long time What has changed is that in recent months The number of civilians alleged to have been killed has really escalated So last year, there were about thirty five civilians that were killed in airstrikes and this year so far There's been more than two hundred and fifty. Wow. So just to give you a sense of how that's happened. We've got the strike in Zamfara where around a hundred people were killed On the same day, another six civilians were killed in another airstrike elsewhere in the country. and then in April, a month earlier, There were more than a hundred people killed on another airstrike, on another crowded market, in another state And then so it seems like in the last few months The number of civilians who have been killed in these asteroks is really increasing and the frequency of these types of asteroks that kill civilians is increasing L re I mean these numbers are astonishing Why haven't we heard about this before So these are really remote areas which are very dangerous, very difficult to get to. And then so I think that journalists and human rights groups have really been struggling to get there and to try and communicate with people there, get verifiable numbers There's very little phone signal. A lot of people don't have smartphones in those areas. they can't take pictures, they can't share with them. And then so it takes a really long time for information to get out. And obviously it's complicated by the fact that The Nigerian armed forces are out there saying none of this happened. We didn't killing civilians is not true coming out Why hasn't the Nigerian government been able to crack down on these armed groups And what responsibility do the US and the UK share in trying to hold them to account in just a moment Louise, you've been telling us about the Nigerian government's battle to try and get rid of the bandits who have more or less taken over this area It doesn't seem to be working as a strategy. Just talk us through what they've tried so far So for years, the military has been carrying outort air and ground operations to try to fight the bandits They have not been doing enough. The scale is not at the level that would be required to win against these bandits. It's just not happening There's a lot of anger as well. I mean, this is very personal. A lot of High level members of the Nigerian armed forces have been killed. I mean, they're taking these really significant losses as well. They are fighting and in some areas they're failing to win against the bandits on the ground Why do you think they haven't really been able to stop these groups so far Part of it is that The Nigerian arrmed forces are overwhelmed. They're fighting on so many fronts They just are overwhelmed by the scale of the problem, which is going so dramatically Another is really just a failure of governance the government has essentially relinquished control over some of these areas, sayate officials that I've spoken to And there's also corruption. Of course the Nigerian armed forces deny this, but Look, they've got this. huge budget, the defense budget is enormous They go supportu from the West And Still, it seems like love of the money, which is supposed to be going to Fight insurgence is siphoned off and it doesn't reach the people it's supposed to be getting to So Louise, is this why they're now doubling down on these aerial strikes, these bombings from above And why are they proving to be so imprecise Well, the interesting thing is is that they can do targeted strikes Nigeria has high precision equipment, they have fighter jets. They have this cooperation with the US to launch very, very targeted strikes at specific targets at specific people From the sources that I spoke to They have a big Part of the reason why these strikes are going wrong and killing civilians is faulty intelligence So for example, there may have been intelligence that Banders were in an area at one point, but By the time that the airstrike happens, they've already left. That's quite a common one that comes up There's faults in the chain of command as well. There seems to be problems communicating in between different levels of the armed forces. Nigerian Armed Forces are very, very top down And sometimes then intelligence is lost on the way or mistakes are made along the way. So that's something that comes up a lot when you speak to military sources And Louise, you mentioned earlier that they should be able to be much more precise with these airstrikes because they have so much cooperation with America and the UK and so much of their kit How close is that relationship So the UK and the US are really, really close allies of the Nigerian Armed Forces The UK, for example, they've provided tens of millions of pounds worth of military equipment to the Nigerian Ared Forces. They work with them very closely. They provide training on fighting insurgency, on human rights And then so the US. State Department I mean, last year they approved a sale of hundredundreds of millions of pounds worth of munitions and precision bombs. And they've also sent soldiers T train Nigerian Ared forcesers and these soldiers are involved in fighting on the front lines at times In that case, I mean, given how closely integrated they are, it's not just that they're providing kit. You've got soldiers on the ground, training, being on the front lines Are the UK and the US. Aware that civilians are being killed Yeah, absolutely. They are one hundred percent aware that civilians are being killed And they're aware that they've been being killed for a long time. It's a kind of recurring issue. that I've seen when I've been reporting in in Iraq before, in Egypt before, where it's these militaries who fairly often commit what would be considered human rights abuses But they're very, very close allies of the UK and the US in their fight on terror And then so because of that, they kind of get a pass And I think that's seems to me to be what's happening in Nigeria now And for the government to be killing so many civilians in these operations, for them just to be collateral damage and often lied about afterwards Does that constitute a war crime Yeah, so I just spoke to receptist from Human Rights W who said that called for an investigation into these airstrikes and into other possible crimes committed by the Nigerian armed forces And they said that they should be investigated on the basis that a possible war crime has taken place. You know, they're not able to say for sure, but absolutely there is Targeting civilians is a war crime. What we don't really know is exactly what happened because the Nigerian land forces haven't been transparent about it mean, it was this mistake. Were they actually aiming at some bandits that they believed were in the area, missed and hit civilians? Oh Is it the case that the Nigerian government believes that all civilians in these areas H terrorists. So the Nigerian defefence Minister came out a little while ago And he said Our strategy O new strategy is that a friend of a thief is a thief. Anybody that is doing any trading, any support to them, we find you together with them we're going to deal with you like the bandit like the terrorists. So people should know if you don't want to be harmed, please avoid where these terrorists are and don't give them any support But here's the point People who are living in these areas don't have any other options. These are people whose lives are brutalized by the bandits, they are enslaved by them, they are often held captured by them, kidnapped by them So this idea that anyone who is in an area where terrorists operate. is a terrorist fundamental idea would seem to be a breach of human rights law I mean, if there is an investigation, if these are proved to be war crimes, Surely The US. and the UK will have to do something about this Well, I do think that they have a responsibility to bring it up to their allies and speak to them. The problem is it's that The UK and the US have in previous years really just paid lip service to abuses committed by the allies across the world and in Nigeria as well. But I think in Nigeria now, this is a case where pressure from the West would change things. And I think that this is an opportunity Picularly for the British govern and the British armed Forces. to try and actually push It's a change within the Nigerian armed forces. rather than just taking it for granted that they're telling the truth when their leaders say they would like some more human rights training and that they're taking all the measures they can. to stop civilian casualties. What are the Nigerian government saying about these cases? What are they saying about their approach to these bandits and why it's all going so wrong So the Nigerian armed Forces and the government point out very fairly that they are facing these huge, huge security challenges. Their people are being killed, they are overwhelmed. This is all true fundamentally then when they do go and kill civilians in many cases They do not admit that they have done it and they just accuse human rights groups and the media of lying I mean, in some cases then the Nigerian A armed forces have said, yes, We killed civilians, we didn't mean to. It was a mistake But in these cases in Zamfer, for example, these These hundred of people who killed, they have not done that. They have not ad missed it. And what have the British and American government said about this? Have they addressed what's happening So obviously, we put all these allegations to The Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian military as a whole, the Nigerian Ministry of Defence British Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense, which now calls itself the Department of War And the only people who actually ended up responding with the British Ministry of Defence We put all these quuite specific allegations to them and ask them what they were doing to talk to their Nigerian allies to make sure that they were taking all measures to avoid civilian casualties And they responded Through the UK Nigeria Security and Defense Partnership, we are committed to supporting Nigeria to promote peace and stability in the region The UK provides defense engagement to the armed forces of Nigeria to build their capacity to counter internal and regional security threats UK defense training always includes the need to respect international law and uphold fundamental human rights If America and Britain wanted to. They could lean on the Nigerian government. they could actually make them change the way they're doing these operations. they could genuinely make a difference If they don't do that what happens next? I mean, how much worse can this get I think if the West does not step up and put pressure in Nigeria to stop killing civilians They will continue to do so. and as the security situation worsens And the armed forces come under more and more pressure, whether that's from bandits or whether that is ISIS affiliate who are growing in power. Boga Haram who is growing em power then they are going to keep taking these measures which hurt civilians in order to try and stop the spread of the viance And if this keeps happening, then more and more civilians are going to be killed They must be losing so much legitimacy from amongst the civilian population when this happens. I mean, could this turn into a proper full blown civil war There is a war in Nigeria now whether the government wants to accept it or not, there is instability and violence which is spreading throughout the country, not just in remote areas in the North But also there have been attacks a few hours outside Lagos. A lot of the people that I spoke to in Nigeria, and that's everyone from officials to human rights groups, to local leaders, they say something needs to be done urgently The armed forces are overwhelmed, of course, but they are also not doing what it takes, they do not have the political backing to do what it takes to try to stop this violence and extremism spreading Louise Callaghan, foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times The prodroucer today was Miaela Arnerson The executive producer was Kate Lambll Sound design and theme composition were by Malaetto. If you'd like to get in touch with us, we're at the story at thetimes. com Thanks listening We'll be back tomorrow