NIGERIA
No Safety in Succor
Amnesty International claimed that Nigerian soldiers raped women and girls who fled Boko Haram, sometimes extorting sex in exchange for food.
Nigeria’s military, which has repeatedly been accused of carrying out atrocities during the fight against the Islamist militants, denied the allegations, the BBC reported.
“These false reports, which are capable of derailing the good work being done by our patriotic and selfless soldiers, must stop,” the military said in a statement.
Based on more than 250 in-depth interviews conducted over two years, the Amnesty report cited “scores of women (and some men)” as saying soldiers and Civilian Joint Task Force members commonly used force and threats to rape women and girls or took advantage of their plight to coerce them into sex.
Nine women reported cases of rape to Amnesty International and 10 others reported that they had been coerced to become the “girlfriend” to a soldier or the Civilian JTF, the rights agency said. The report also detailed other abuses.
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