Nigeria's military has
liberated large swathes of land from Boko Haram but a ride with an army convoy,
all guns firing for fear of ambush, shows how far the northeast is from
normality after a brutal Islamist insurgency that has displaced millions.
Reuters
report continues:
The
moment military convoys leave the relative safety of Bama, Borno state's second
town, soldiers in the lead vehicle open fire with a heavy cannon into the scrub
along the road to pre-empt attacks by remaining fighters from the Islamist
group.
As
they head for the regional capital, Maiduguri, the soldiers scan the road for
bombs or booby-traps, while shooting at any possible cover - abandoned petrol
stations, burned out farmhouses, trees, even clumps of elephant grass.
Jeep
drivers behind them in the convoy join in, firing assault rifles
indiscriminately through windows with one hand while gripping the steering
wheel with the other.
"If
there is somebody there and you fire at him, he definitely wants to fire back
so then you know his position and take action," said Colonel Adamu Laka,
the military commander in Bama. "You are trying to seize the
initiative."
Such
extreme measures highlight the lack of security across Borno despite the army's
success in driving Boko Haram out of occupied territory that 18 months ago was
the size of Belgium.
Reuters
was given access to the Nigerian army on the ground as it seeks to re-impose
order in Borno after seven years of dominance by Boko Haram, one of the world's
deadliest Islamist groups and a major challenge to a government also grappling
with an economic crisis caused by plunging oil prices.
As
the first international reporting team to travel through the area by road since
Boko Haram was pushed back, Reuters was able to see the devastation caused by
the group. Roads are highly dangerous, no food is grown in the fields, and
people are still trickling out of their hiding places in the bush.
The
military campaign has curbed an insurgency that has killed at least 15,000
people since 2009 but in a new phase of the conflict, the army now finds itself
facing small groups of guerrillas operating in the sparsely populated, wooded
terrain.
In
July, Boko Haram fighters hiding in trees along the Bama-Maiduguri road
ambushed a United Nations aid convoy, wounding five people.
With
the U.N. saying up to 5.5 million people in the northeast might need food aid
this year, the military is under intense pressure to make roads safer. It is no
easy task.
"There
are so many ambush sites along the road so we are cutting the trees,"
Colonel Laka said.
As
Boko Haram has been forced back, the government and aid agencies have been able
to assess for the first time the extent of the humanitarian disaster left in
the jihadists' wake.
The
U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, said last month nearly half a million children
were at risk of 'severe acute malnutrition' in the area around Lake Chad that
has been ravaged by Boko Haram.
According
to UNICEF, in Borno, where two in three medical centres or clinics had been
partially or completely destroyed, 49,000 children will die this year if help
does not arrive.
"Towns
and villages are in ruins and communities have no access to basic
services," UNICEF said.
Describing
civilians liberated by the army, Mohammed Kanar, northeastern coordinator for
the national relief agency, said: "You will see them emaciated. As for an
adult man, you can even count his ribs."
The
numbers could well rise as civilians emerge from the countryside into towns now
controlled by the army.
"We
had to leave the bush because we were hungry," said Haja Jamil, 40, a
pregnant yet painfully thin woman who arrived in Bama two weeks ago with two
children.
"Boko
Haram kept coming and hassling us. We are still afraid of them," she said,
sitting on the floor of a military clinic in Bama while feeding her 3-year-old
daughter, Aisha.
DESERTED
CITY
Since
President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, took office last year, the
army has found fresh resolve against Boko Haram, which has been fighting to
establish a mediaeval caliphate in the southern stretches of the Sahara.
The
military has moved its headquarters to Maiduguri, drafted in new generals and
improved cooperation with neighbouring countries, allowing it to capture and
take control of dozens of towns such as Bama.
But
the plight of Bama shows the extent of the challenge in recovering from the
group's scorched earth campaign.
Once
a city of more than a quarter of a million people, Bama is now a ghost town,
littered with burnt-out buildings and home to 11,000 people living behind
military fortifications.
Goats
nibble at grass growing in cracks in the road. Piles of rubbish fester in
ditches. The main street is lined with fire-gutted banks and shops, walls
daubed with graffiti in Arabic saying "God is Great".
Before
it left, the group, whose name means 'Western education is sinful' in the local
Hausa language, also ransacked schools and the palace of Bama's traditional
ruler.
Now,
soldiers camp in abandoned shops behind walls of sand-bags. Officers work in a
tent, near a wall painted with the black flag of Middle East militant group
Islamic State, to which Boko Haram pledged loyalty this year.
The
army has set up makeshift classrooms for displaced children and piles of
concrete blocks trucked in from Maiduguri point to hoped-for reconstruction,
but the proximity of Boko Haram in the Sambisa forest - its final bolthole,
according to the army - makes normality a distant dream.
"It's
just four or five kilometres from here. Once you cross the river you start
meeting their checkpoints," Laka said, pointing towards the forest on a
tour of Bama's outskirts in a bullet-proof jeep.
The
fight against Boko Haram has been complicated by an apparent split in the group
after Islamic State's magazine announced Abu Musab al-Barnawi as new leader.
The previous leader, Abubakar Shekau, appears to have rejected the move.
But
dangers remain for the military and, above all, for young people. While Barnawi
rejects Shekau's strategy of suicide bombings in crowded areas, analysts think
he could regroup in rural areas to stage targeted strikes against the army.
And
both groups will be competing for recruits at a time when many displaced
children are not in school. That will reduce their job prospects and leave them
vulnerable to Islamists ready to exploit grievances over poverty and
unemployment.
ANGER,
AND HUNGER
For
now, the military says Boko Haram is low on ammunition and food. Heavy rains
have however prevented any advance into Sambisa, whose dirt tracks do not suit
tanks and artillery.
"Once
we go in with any equipment it's difficult to operate. So we rely on foot
patrols," Laka said.
Meanwhile,
everything from bread to ammunition to medicine comes in from Maiduguri by road,
passing abandoned farms, deserted petrol stations, bombed mosques and gutted
tanks.
Behind
its fortifications, Maiduguri has become an oasis of safety that is choking
under the pressure.
Its
population over the last few years has almost tripled to 5 million, according
to the national relief agency, causing shortages of everything from living
space to food and cash.
Food
price riots broke out twice in August, with crowds smashing cars outside one
location until police restored order.
Many
are desperate to go home, turning up at dawn at Maiduguri's minibus taxi rank
to take their chances on the Bama road, only to be turned back by soldiers on
the outskirts of the city. Thousands are now trapped in Maiduguri.
"They have spent all their money and eaten all the food they brought," said Mohammed Tada, sitting on the back of a truck laden with women, children and bags that had halted at a checkpoint. "All the people are suffering from hunger."
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