Baga Remains Ghost Town
One year after the deadliest Boko Haram massacre, Baga town on Lake Chad in northeast Nigeria remains deserted as thousands of people were forced to flee their homes.
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Many men, women and children were killed in the Nigerian towns of Baga and Doron Baga on January 3, 2015, when Boko Haram insurgents launched a fierce attack.
The total number of dead remains unclear as the Nigerian army claims that only 150 Nigerians were killed, while some other sources say that up to 2,000 people died.
It is hard to believe now that town used to be a lively trading centre of 200,000 residents, where merchants would travel to sell cattle, leather goods and trade fresh produce.
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Muhammad Alhaji Bukar, who was forced to leave the town after the terrorists' attacks, said: “Baga is still deserted, we are all living in camps and homes of friends and relatives in Maiduguri because we are scared of returning home.”
The Nigerian army recaptured Baga in March and soldiers patrol its dusty streets today.
With fewer than a 1000 Nigerians living now in Baga the town’s lasting emptiness shows how difficult it is to get people back home and renew peace to the battered northeast region.
The Nigerian military and forces from neighbouring countries have over the last year been able to flush the insurgents out from captured towns, but is not able to stop the Boko Haram members from regrouping in the surrounding villages and bush.
Spurned not crushed, the militants had found cover near Baga in the little islands lined with tall grass that dot the freshwater lake.
As Bukar Kori, head of the Baga’s traders union, said: “We can’t return to Baga yet, it is still not safe, especially with Boko Haram lurking on nearby islands.”
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Today, an estimated 700 people are living in Baga, with the majority of the town’s former residents staying in Maiduguri.
President Muhammadu Buhari's government insists that Boko Haram has been “technically” defeated. However, going into 2016, the militant sect continues to wreak havoc by sending out suicide attackers, sometimes in groups.
Last weekend in an attack that continued for 48 hours, the terrorists stormed Maiduguri unleashing “dozens” of suicide bombers, killing at least 22 people.
Source: Legit.ng
