| Zaki Biam Questions |
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Zaki Biam Questions Some very serious questions need to be answered before we move on to crown Obasanjo the Messiah-General in our nascent democracy. Human Rights Watch, a respectable NGO had published a report (reproduced below) of the Obasanjo Government’s massacre in Tiv-land. Could deliberate genocide against the Tiv amount to a corruption of the democratic political process that the EFCC or other world bodies may be interested in looking at? We reckon that not sufficient time or energy was spent on this dastardly two-day event being so close on the heels of the more dramatic 9/11 TV-captured genocide in New York. Read the entire report before you urge for a third term. MILITARY REVENGE IN Culled from http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/nigeria/ I. SUMMARY On The killings in At the international level, foreign governments remained conspicuously silent. While some mentioned the In December 2001, Human Rights Watch visited the areas affected by these events in The witnesses and survivors interviewed by Human Rights Watch all confirmed, without exception, that the military had entered their towns or villages with the clear intention of killing and destroying, and that all those killed or injured had been unarmed and posing no threat to the soldiers. Their testimonies illustrate clear coordination and planning in the military operation. Survivors in several of the incidents described almost identical procedures: troops assembled villagers as if for a meeting, then separated the men from the women and children. Commanders then gave orders to fire on those assembled, by voice command or blasts on whistles. In one case, a whistle was used to call a halt to the firing. Survivors also recounted explicit comments made by soldiers-some of which are reproduced in this report-which indicated that the soldiers targeted their victims specifically on an ethnic basis, and that the Tiv as a whole were being made to pay the price for the killing of the nineteen soldiers. Despite the atrocities committed during these three days in October, soldiers were not withdrawn from the area. A heavy military presence was maintained in the town of The information in this report is based on testimonies provided to Human Rights Watch during the visit to Human Rights Watch urges the Nigerian government to take immediate measures to identify and bring to justice those members of the military responsible for the killings and destruction in The events in 1 For details of these events, see Human Rights Watch background report The Destruction of Odi and Rape in Choba, II. RECOMMENDATIONS These recommendations refer primarily to human rights violations committed by the military in The Nigerian federal government, at the highest level, has a clear responsibility for these grave human rights violations by the military, especially as the operation was clearly planned in advance with a view to taking revenge on the civilian population of the area. The massacres in - Set up a prompt, independent, and impartial criminal investigation into the killings and destruction by the military in Gbeji, Zaki-Biam, and other locations in - Ensure that investigations into the killings in Principle 17 states: "A written report shall be made within a reasonable period of time on the methods and findings of such investigations. The report shall be made public immediately and shall include the scope of the inquiry, procedures and methods used to evaluate evidence as well as conclusions and recommendations based on findings of fact and on applicable law. [...] The Government shall, within a reasonable period of time, either reply to the report of the investigation, or indicate the steps taken in response to it." Principle 18 states: "Governments shall ensure that persons identified by the investigation as having participated in extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions in any territory under their jurisdiction are brought to justice." - Invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions to conduct her own separate investigation into the killings by the Nigerian military in - Provide compensation for people whose homes or sources of livelihood were arbitrarily destroyed by the military and enable them to rebuild their homes. Ensure the speedy reconstruction of other buildings and infrastructure which were destroyed during the military operation. - Investigate reports of rape, ill-treatment, and harassment by soldiers in - Immediately withdraw from active duty soldiers suspected of having committed human rights violations, including killings, rape, ill-treatment, harassment and extortion, pending investigation. - Take measures to ensure that in the event of future cases where members of the security forces are abducted or killed, the army does not retaliate by targeting the civilian population. - Investigate reports that mobile police and soldiers have participated in attacks on civilians and destruction of homes in the course of the conflict in which Tivs oppose Jukuns, particularly in Taraba State, and bring to justice those found responsible. Issue clear instructions to the security forces that they have a duty to protect the civilian population in its entirety, without distinction, regardless of ethnic, political or other affiliations, and to refrain from taking sides in this or any other intercommunal conflict. - Provide humanitarian assistance to the large number of people displaced by the conflict. - Continue actively to seek measures to resolve this conflict and to reconcile the different communities affected to ensure that people are able to return to their homes safely. - Ensure that any commissions of inquiry set up to study this or other conflicts in - Issue a strong, public condemnation of the killings and destruction by the Nigerian military in - Insist that the Nigerian authorities carry out a prompt and independent investigation into the killings and destruction, leading to the swift prosecution of those responsible for ordering the operation and perpetrating these abuses. - Urge the Nigerian government and military authorities to refrain from any similar reprisal actions in the future or other forms of collective punishment directed at communities defined by ethnicity. - Assist the Nigerian government in providing humanitarian assistance to the tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict in Taraba and neighbouring states. - Governments providing military training, weapons or other military equipment to the Nigerian security forces should link all such assistance to measurable progress in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the killings and destruction in - Governments such as the 2 The U.N. Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions were recommended by Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/65 of III. EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS AND DESTRUCTION BY THE MILITARY The military operation in which more than two hundred people were killed in various locations in Against the backdrop of this conflict, the specific incident which provoked the violent response of the military in October was the abduction and killing of nineteen soldiers two weeks earlier. The soldiers, according to government authorities, were on a mission to restore peace in the area affected by the conflict between Tivs and Jukuns, when they were abducted by a Tiv armed group in Vaase, in The exact circumstances of the attack on the soldiers and the motivation behind it remain unclear. The Nigerian government announced the names and ranks of the dead soldiers, which were published in the media.3 However, many Tiv sources cast doubt on the identity of the victims and questioned whether all nineteen were really soldiers. They believe that at least some of them were probably armed Jukuns, operating alongside Nigerian army soldiers. As evidence, they pointed to the fact that, while dressed in military uniforms, the victims had been travelling in private pick-up trucks, not military vehicles, and that some of their weapons did not bear official Nigerian army registration numbers.4 Some sources also allege that the real number of those abducted and killed was higher than nineteen, and may have been closer to thirty. Even initial statements issued by government authorities immediately after the incident were contradictory as to the number of soldiers killed; for example, the number initially cited in many media reports was sixteen. Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm independently the identity or number of the soldiers who died. There is also some confusion as to the purpose of these soldiers' deployment in the area. Federal government and military authorities have asserted that they were on a peacekeeping mission. Less than two weeks after the discovery of the bodies of the nineteen soldiers, a large number of soldiers arrived in several towns and villages in The soldiers, who were from the 23rd armored brigade of the 3rd armored division of the Nigerian army, normally based in Yola, the capital of Adamawa state,5 targeted more than seven towns and villages in Benue, including Gbeji (and surrounding villages), Zaki-Biam, Tse-Adoor, Vaase, Sankera, Anyiin, and Kyado. Between October 22 and 24, they proceeded systematically from one to the other, killing, destroying, and pillaging as they went. On October 22, the soldiers attacked Gbeji, Vaase, and Anyiin; on October 23, they moved into Zaki-Biam, Tse-Adoor, Sankera, and Kyado, returning to Zaki-Biam, Tse-Adoor, and Kyado on October 24. Witnesses estimated that there were between two and three hundred soldiers, with several armored tanks and other military vehicles. As word of their advance spread, residents of some locations were able to flee before the soldiers arrived. In this way, some escaped death or injury, but the soldiers who arrived to find these sites deserted were able to destroy and loot freely, without any hindrance. This was the case in Anyiin, for example, where there was widespread destruction of homes and buildings, but no one was killed. Most of the victims in the other locations were killed on October 22 and 23. There is little doubt that this operation was organised as a retaliation and a form of collective punishment for the murder of the nineteen soldiers, as illustrated by comments made by some of the soldiers to local residents in the towns and villages they targeted: several witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that the soldiers had accused them collectively of having killed their colleagues and made other comments implying that the Tiv, as a people, had brought the trouble on themselves. The Massacre of Gbeji and Among the various towns and villages targeted in the military operation in Human Rights Watch visited Gbeji in December 2001 and spoke to survivors and witnesses there; we also visited the sites of several mass graves where residents of Gbeji had buried their dead. In Makurdi, the capital of The soldiers first arrived in Gbeji on October 19. They asked residents on which day the market was usually held, then went away. They returned on October 22. They gathered the residents of the town, asking as many people as possible to assemble for a meeting. They told them they had come on a peace mission and wanted to discuss ways of restoring peace in the area. The residents gathered, believing it was a genuine initiative. Once a sufficient number of people had come together, the soldiers separated the men from the women and children. They then opened fire on the unarmed men, shooting indiscriminately. After shooting them, they poured petrol over them and set them alight. Some of the victims died from the shooting, others from being burnt alive. The soldiers then went on a rampage, destroying houses and other buildings. A twenty-eight-year-old man who was hospitalised with serious injuries described the sequence of events:7 On Saturday, at about 2 p.m., soldiers came and gathered us together. They asked us to dismantle the roadblocks8 and said we should make peace and settle. We agreed to make peace. They asked us when is market day. We said Thursday. But they came back on Monday instead. On Monday, they gathered people in the market. They said they didn't want to see women or children. The women and children went away. About thirty minutes later, they started killing people. There were more than three hundred people gathered. They were all men, apart from two women [...] The soldiers said we had killed soldiers, that was why they were killing us. They started shooting from the main road. At first they were shooting and moving around, from 1p.m. to 4 p.m. About three vehicles went to another village. They said no one should move. We lay down. They came and checked to see if people were still alive. If you started shaking, they would shoot you. They put fuel over us [...] I have burns on my knees. I was the last person to be shot. They burned me before shooting me, but most others were shot before they were burnt. As we were trying to escape, vehicles came after us. I was taken into the bush, then I was in the clinic for three days, then I came here to the hospital. A woman with a seven-month-old child was shot in Gbeji. They removed the child before killing her. They also killed my brother; he was twenty-five. He was burnt in front of me, I saw it. The same day, my uncle, who is about ninety years old, was shot dead in his house in the Among the patients in hospital in Makurdi was a man in his thirties who sustained what must have been some of the worst injuries among the survivors: his entire body had been burnt, including his face. In view of the gravity of his condition, Human Rights Watch researchers did not feel it was appropriate to interview him when they visited the hospital. However, he had previously provided his testimony to others: I was not shot, but fell on the ground and those who were shot fell on me and there was blood all over me but I was conscious and was watching all that was going on. The commander then ordered for the sprayer which was used to spray petrol over the heap of the shot people and then set ablaze. There was fire all over me, but I was not hit by a bullet. I could not move. I had to choose between the fire and gun shots [...]9 Others also escaped narrowly. A fifteen-year-old boy watched as his father was shot. He was also injured, but survived: "When they opened fire, I saw my father hit at the forehead, then a bullet hit me. I thought I was dead, then I saw them pour petrol on the people. The petrol finished near me and they went to refill. It was when they went for refilling of the petrol that I ran away. I lost my father, uncle, and four cousins."10 A boy aged about nine was also among those injured in Gbeji. His arm had been blown off and he was also injured on his leg and side. He told Human Rights Watch:11 The soldiers came on Monday. They gathered people and sent the women and children away. One soldier called me and caught me. They made me join the men. I was shot here [pointing to his amputated arm, his leg and side]. I was going with the women but the soldier said I should come with the men. About four children were injured and brought to the hospital. Others died during the incident. I was shot in the marketplace. Someone fell on top of me. The soldiers checked to see if I was dead, then shot me three times. Then they were burning people. I got up and ran into the bush. A soldier saw me and shot at me. I stayed in the bush as if I was dead. The soldiers came and saw me. They kicked me three times on the leg and foot to check if I was still alive. I pretended I was dead. My oldest brother died. He is about forty years old. He was shot in the chest and in the head, together with others in the meeting. Other survivors confirmed that the soldiers, not satisfied with shooting into the crowd and setting people on fire, then checked whether those lying among the corpses were really dead. An eighteen-year-old boy pretended he had been hit when the soldiers opened fire. He managed to roll away on the ground when the soldiers set fire to the people. "Then one of the soldiers pointed at me and said: `This one is not dead, let me not waste my bullet, but slaughter him with a knife.' He then pulled his knife and started cutting my neck. I was still and he thought I was dead, and left me when the whistle blew."12 A forty-year-old farmer in Gbeji gave his own account of what happened from the time of the soldiers' first arrival:13 On 19 October, the army arrived here. They called on us to assemble. They said they were on a peacekeeping mission. They told us to invite all members of the town to be present on market day, which is Thursday. They didn't come on Thursday but they came on Monday 22 October, at about 2 p.m. They said again that they had come for peacekeeping. They advised us to invite everyone for a meeting. They had four armored cars and nine trucks. There were more than three hundred soldiers [...] The soldiers had armored tanks stationed in three places blocking the area to prevent escape. We assembled at the motor-park at about 3 p.m. Most of the community were there. A twenty-six-year-old man who was injured told a similar story:14 First they came and asked us when is market day. Then they came back on Monday. They came in eight vehicles. There was one armored car and another in the market. There were more than two hundred soldiers. They called people together. They gathered us in the motor-park and said they wanted a meeting. They sat people down. They made the women go to one side. They said: `Sit down, we'll call our commander.' Instead, they went to fetch more soldiers. Then they came back with the other soldiers. One of them gave a signal, he raised his hand, then they started shooting at us indiscriminately. After shooting, they started burning people. I was lying on the ground. I was injured on my legs, my side, my arms, and my back. I was caught in the shooting. Some people fell down. I lay among the bodies; some were dead, others were still alive. Then the soldiers poured kerosene over us to burn us. That's when I sustained my injuries: some are burns, others are from the shooting. A soldier dropped a spent cartridge on me. I stayed still to deceive them, pretending I was dead. Then I escaped. I got caught up in this just by chance. I was on my way to Gbeji. I am from the His own Soldiers also attacked the The military also exacted a brutal revenge on the Several young men who had been present when the soldiers came to Vaase told Human Rights Watch:17 On Monday 22 October the soldiers killed seventeen people here: fifteen men and two women. They sent some boys to fetch us to hear what they had to say. The soldiers asked us: "Who killed the soldiers?" We said we didn't know. They told us to make a line. People lined up. They made us take our shirts off and tied them over our eyes. Then the commander blew a whistle and the soldiers starting shooting. They left some of the bodies on the road. Some people were carried away alive by the soldiers as they left. They also burned houses. A woman in her twenties was burnt inside her house. Another woman in her thirties, a mother of two, was carried away alive. We don't know what happened to her. The sequence of events in Kyado was different from other towns and villages. It was perhaps the most revealing in terms of the organization of the military operation, and contrasts between the behavior of military units from A man whose house in Kyado was destroyed by the soldiers explained to Human Rights Watch:19 On Friday [...] the troops from Yola came. They stopped in my store [...] They asked me: "How many kilometers to Zaki-Biam?" I said: "13 kilometers." They asked me who was the elder of the town so that they could talk to the people. They asked me to take them to his house. On the way, they asked me: "On which day did they dismount the roadblock here?" I said I didn't know. They asked for the weapons seized from the soldiers earlier. I said I didn't know where they were. The elder was not in; only his brother was there and he said he didn't know anything. The soldiers said: "In the next thirty minutes, you must produce the youth leader and the weapons seized, otherwise we will do what we want with you." They gathered about a hundred men and lined us up in the main road. They made us lie down facing the sun. They beat us and kicked us. My brother was injured. They stood on my stomach and one soldier put a gun on my chest and told me to say my last prayers [...] About ten minutes later, soldiers came from Zaki-Biam. The military leaders had a brief meeting. The commander from Yola ordered his men to reverse. The commander from Makurdi gathered us and said: "We don't have much to say. Thank your God I was here at this time." He told us to forgive the soldiers and eat plenty. The soldiers [from Yola] burned twenty-four huts then left. On Tuesday 23, on their way back through Zaki-Biam, they burned about thirty-five more houses in Kyado. On Wednesday 24 the soldiers from Makurdi came again and told us that no one should stay, that we should leave town and take our property as they would do the worst damage. On the way back from Zaki-Biam, the soldiers [from Yola] again destroyed and burned most of the houses. They stayed several hours. Another man, whose house was destroyed in Kyado and whose brother was among those beaten on October 19, reported that when the soldiers from Yola arrived, they asked how far it was to Zaki-Biam, and how far to Victor Malu's house, and warned the population "that it would be like Odi."20 The town of The town of Zaki-Biam, situated about forty-five kilometers from the Taraba border, was the worst hit location after Gbeji in terms of civilian casualties of the military operation; this was where the bodies of the nineteen soldiers had been found. Between twenty and thirty people, and possibly more, were killed in Zaki-Biam. The operation began on October 23 and continued on October 24. On the morning of October 23, soldiers surrounded the yam market, which is one of An eye-witness described what he heard and saw at the yam market in Zaki-Biam:22 The soldiers came at about 9 a.m. I was at the farm. I heard people shouting: "They've come!" I saw soldiers all around the market. We stood on the hill watching. The commander was calling people to come for peacekeeping. But people had heard what the army had done in Gbeji so they started running away. The soldiers started shooting. They killed about nineteen people, inside the market and on the road outside. Others were shot while they were running. I saw two vehicles, 4x4 The soldiers slept here that night. We heard shooting in the night until about 4.30 a.m. The next day, we were still around. At 9.15 a.m. they started burning houses and buildings, until about 3 p.m. Among those who died, some were killed by flying bullets, others may have died in the bush. There are also about twenty people still missing [...] By the time relatives came to pick up the bodies later, some were rotting and were being eaten by vultures. Another man in the yam market gave this account:23 There were thirty-four vehicles in total, including about eight armored tanks. They [the soldiers] parked the first vehicle at the entrance to the market, the other at the extreme end. Then they jumped down and surrounded us [...] We have never witnessed this before. They killed about eighteen people inside the market and about six outside. After a week, we discovered about three bodies in the bush. Those who were killed included several market traders, farmers, a former councilor, and a pastor. [...] Every vehicle was full of soldiers, maybe up to two hundred altogether. The cars had the lights full on. The soldiers didn't say anything. They just shot. They were arresting groups of people and killing them. They started at 9 a.m. and didn't stop until about 4 p.m. At 6 p.m. they came back again. They were destroying and shooting all night, I don't know until what time. The next day they came to the main market. They destroyed many houses there. The majority belong to Igbos, not indigenes. One Igbo man refused to leave his house in town so they killed him. They were burning property and spraying houses. They even burned the police station. Later we discovered body parts which had been burnt. They were not identifiable. Among the victims in Zaki-Biam were about ten people who were travelling in a bus near the yam market. The soldiers ordered the vehicle to stop and told the passengers to get out. Witnesses reported that the soldiers initially said they were stopping the vehicle for a routine check. Then they asked whether there were any non-Tivs among the passengers. The passengers said no. The soldiers separated the female passengers from the men, ordered the men to lie down, then started shooting at them. Among the victims was Ityokar Anbu Wende, a forty-year-old father of eight and a former councilor, who was accompanying his thirteen-year-old daughter back from school. The soldiers spared the daughter, but killed her father in front of her. He was the first passenger they shot because he was questioning their actions and asked why they were being asked to lie down. He was killed with at least ten bullets in the head and shoulder. The victims also included a Protestant pastor, Reverend Andrew Alu, who pleaded with the soldiers to let him pray. The soldiers said they would spare him because he was a priest, but shot him dead anyway. The driver of the vehicle, Moove Ityom, was also killed.24 The soldiers resumed their destruction in Zaki-Biam on October 24. One of the first houses they targeted on that day was that of Benjamin Chaha, a former speaker of the House of Representatives in the National Assembly in the The military clearly targeted the A relative of Victor Malu, who lives on the compound but was outside when the military headed towards it, described what he saw:26 On 23 October, the military arrived at 12.10. I was in Zaki-Biam. There I saw two armored tanks with their headlights on, followed by two trucks and about forty soldiers, followed by another armored tank. I decided to come back home. [...] At the primary school near Tse-Adoor I saw three armored vehicles enter our compound. The soldiers were shooting at random. I drove onto the bush road and stayed in the bush watching. They were shooting and burning houses. They used armored tanks to level the place. They were using three armored tanks simultaneously, for about one hour. They gathered women and children and beat them. They made them lie on the ground outside, including our one hundred-year-old mother. They particularly beat those women and children who were hesitating. They kicked them and hit them with guns [....] No one knew why they were there. They beat my younger brother and asked him who was here [....] Then they left for Zaki-Biam. The first attack took us completely unaware. Most of the men were out farming, so it was mainly women who were in the compound. They were cooking, wearing just wrappers. The soldiers didn't allow them to take anything out of the houses. They entered every room and checked. They took all their belongings out and burned them. They took any money they could find [...]The next day, they came back at about 8.30 a.m. They stayed for about three hours. They came to loot and were shooting at all the houses. In Sankera, on October 23, two young men were killed on the main road: Merve Beramo, aged twenty, who was returning from the farm and was shot at the primary school, and Luther Jima, aged twenty-three. A four-year-old boy, Tersen Tordue, who had been traveling with Luther Jima on a motorcycle, was injured. Soldiers also engaged in extensive destruction, including in the parish compound, where they spent about half an hour. From there, they moved to the newly-constructed local government building, where they burned the whole of the inside of the building and looted office equipment and vehicles, as well as a large sum of money belonging to the local government; they also burned the house of the local government chairman, the local government guesthouse, and more than fifty other houses. In addition, they burned a large stockpile of food in a warehouse, which had been intended to assist the large population of internally displaced people fleeing conflict in 3 See, for example, "As army buries 19 slain soldiers..." in the Lagos-based This Day, 4 Human Rights Watch interviews in 5 6 Information collected from local sources in Gbeji, including a list of 150 killed and fifteen missing compiled by Shima Ayati, Special Assistant to the Governor of Benue State and Chairman of the Tiv Taraba Crisis Relief Management and Rehabilitation Committee. 7 Human Rights Watch interview, Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, 8 The tension in the area and the frequency of attacks by armed groups had led residents of some areas to set up roadblocks. 9 See "The Story of Gbeji massacre, 10 Ibid. 11 Human Rights Watch interview, Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, 12 See "The Story of Gbeji massacre, 22nd October, 2001", compiled by Shima Ayati, Chairman of the Tiv Taraba Crisis Relief Management and Rehabilitation Committee. 13 Human Rights Watch interview, Gbeji, 14 Human Rights Watch interview, Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, 15 Human Rights Watch interview, Makurdi, 16 Human Rights Watch interviews in Gbeji and Tse-Gube, 17 Human Rights Watch interviews in Vaase, 18 As mentioned above, the soldiers who carried out the killings and destruction in 19 Human Rights Watch interview in Kyado, 20 Human Rights Watch interview in 21 Human Rights Watch interviews in Anyiin and Makurdi, December, 2001. 22 Human Rights Watch interview in Zaki-Biam, 23 Human Rights Watch interview in Zaki-Biam, 24 Human Rights Watch interviews in Zaki-Biam, Makurdi and 25 Human Rights Watch interviews in Tse-Adoor, 26 Human Rights Watch interview in Tse-Adoor,
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Posted by Robot| 13.03.2006 20:41