The Nigerian Army committed atrocities during its operations against Boko Haram militants in the country’s north-east, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
Gruesome footage, obtained by the human rights group, appears to show extrajudicial executions and other serious human rights violations, by individuals who appear to be members of the Nigerian army and the “Civilian Joint Task Force” (CJTF), state-sponsored militias.
AI in a statement that called for an “immediate, independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the pattern of serious and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all sides”.
Nigeria's Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, said that senior officers and forensic experts will investigate the footage "in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts".
“This shocking new evidence is further proof of the appalling crimes being committed with abandon by all sides in the conflict. Nigerians deserve better – what does it say when members of the military carry out such unspeakable acts and capture the images on film?” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“These are not the images we expect from a government which sees itself as having a leadership role in Africa. The ghastly images are backed up by the numerous testimonies we have gathered which suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military and CJTF.”
“Members of Boko Haram and other armed groups are responsible for a huge number of heinous crimes – like the abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok more than three months ago – but the military are supposed to defend people, not to carry out further abuses themselves,” Salil Shetty added.