Knifar Movement, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has accused Nigerian soldiers of raping women in Internally-Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and cajoling the women to deny such practices happened.
The group made this known in a series of tweets on its Twitter handle on Monday.
Knifar Movement described itself as a “movement of displaced women from northeast Nigeria.”
“We represent our more than 1200 relatives in military detention. We campaign for justice,” the group added.
The latest accusation is coming barely two weeks after an Amnesty International report accused Nigerian soldiers of raping and starving women to death.
Like the Amnesty International report, which the Army has vehemently denied, the latest report accused the soldiers of taking advantage of the women and allowing anyone of them that failed to succumb to starve.
The group said, “The military came to Dalori with journalists to ask us displaced women if we were raped. Before the visit, the women were told to say everything is fine, that there are no issues. Is this the way our complaints are handled?
“One of our members was there. She has a 18 month old son, fathered by a soldier. Too scared and intimidated to speak, she said nothing. No one spoke. Why are we forced to be exposed in such a way?
“It happened to us. It is real. And we formed our group to allow women to get accountability. We have said it before. We are ready to speak but we can not imagine this is the way to do this.
“We are pleading again with @NGRPresident to hear our cries and investigate the soldiers who raped us when we were in Bama. Our children died because there was not enough food. Unless we had sex with soldiers.
“We have said it before: we are ready to speak to any investigation team the @NGRPresident sends to us. We only ask it will not be led by soldiers as they are also the ones who abused our women.”
See tweets:
1. The military came to Dalori with journalists to ask us displaced women if we were raped. Before the visit, the women were told to say everything is fine, that there are no issues. Is this the way our complaints are handled? #IDP https://t.co/ReWxntuPhg
— Knifar movement (@Knifar2017) June 4, 2018
2. One of our members was there. She has a 18 month old son, fathered by a soldier. Too scared and intimidated to speak, she said nothing. No one spoke. Why are we forced to be exposed in such a way?
— Knifar movement (@Knifar2017) June 4, 2018
3. It happened to us. It is real. And we formed our group to allow women to get accountability. We have said it before. We are ready to speak but we can not imagine this is the way to do this.
— Knifar movement (@Knifar2017) June 4, 2018
4. We are pleading again with @NGRPresident to hear our cries and investigate the soldiers who raped us when we were in Bama. Our children died because there was not enough food. Unless we had sex with soldiers.
— Knifar movement (@Knifar2017) June 4, 2018
5. We have said it before: we are ready to speak to any investigation team the @NGRPresident sends to us. We only ask it will not be led by soldiers as they are also the ones who abused our women. @PremiumTimesng @dandalkura @MobilePunch @GuardianNigeria @THISDAYLIVE @daily_trust pic.twitter.com/1bbPOuUhNv
— Knifar movement (@Knifar2017) June 4, 2018
The Nigerian Army has yet to respond to the latest accusation.
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