A Boko Haram fighterj
Ahead of 14 April two years anniversary of the kidnap of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram terrorist group, United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF has raised alarm that the insurgent group is increasing the use of children as suicide bombers across the West African sub region.
In a report titled, Beyond Chibok released on Tuesday, the humanitarian group said the number of children involved in ‘suicide’ attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger has risen sharply over the past year, from 4 in 2014 to 44 in 2015. It added that more than 75 per cent of the children involved in the attacks are girls.
The report noted that as suicide’ attacks involving children become commonplace, some communities are starting to see children as threats to their safety with destructive consequences.
“Let us be clear: these children are victims, not perpetrators,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “Deceiving children and forcing them to carry out deadly acts has been one of the most horrific aspects of the violence in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries.”
According to UNICEF, ‘suicide’ bombing attacks in general spread beyond Nigeria’s borders to the neighbouring countries in 2015.
“The frequency of all suicide bombings increased from 32 in 2014 to 151 last year. In 2015, 89 of these attacks were carried out in Nigeria, 39 in Cameroon, 16 in Chad and 7 in Niger.
UNICEF said the report that between January 2014 and February 2016, Cameroon recorded the highest number of suicide attacks involving children (21), followed by Nigeria (17) and Chad (2).
“Over the past two years, nearly 1 in 5 suicide bombers was a child and three quarters of these children were girls. Last year, children were used in 1 out of 2 attacks in …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
