The communities affected by the Boko Haram terrorists activities in the north east of Nigeria and into the Cameroons have spoken out through a UN international agency of being ‘robbed’ of cultural pride and women.
Communities in the Lake Chad Basin are complaining of misconducts of security personnel deployed to fight insurgency in the area.
They alleged that the soldiers were eloping with girls and young women from the communities.
This was contained in a report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday titled “Perspectives from local communities on stabilization and building peace in the Lake Chad Basin”.
The report said a lack of professionalism of security forces and their alleged misconduct was cited severally, reportedly resulting in insufficient trust between security forces and the communities.
“In Cameroon, relations between security agencies and communities seemed particularly strained by sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by members of the security agencies.
“In Limani, for example, a woman gave birth to a child that was fathered by a soldier, resulting to her being excluded from her home due to the taboos associated with this incident,” the report stated.
It was also discovered that “other girls and young women in the area have left villages with soldiers without undertaking the traditional or civil marriage process.”
More so, the report said communities were accusing security forces of harassment and extortion at check points and borders.
The UNDP said all these were aggravating community sentiments against security forces.
The report however, noted that despite the mistrust that existed between the communities and the security, there were calls for deployment of more troops and security forces in the area.
It therefore, called for efforts to sustain well-trained and equipped military and security presence, adding that security operatives must also be made to adhere to a code of conduct.
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