The Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday replied Defence Headquarters over its position on issues bothering Nigeria’s plan to adopt Sri Lankan anti-terror fight model.
The military had on Tuesday dismissed HRW’s position on the matter.
The spokesman of the group, Andrew Stroehlein, in a statement said the military failed to address substantive points raised in their first assessment.
He said: “Their reaction to my article doesn’t actually address any of the substantive points it raised. Their new statement says nothing about the abuses of the Sri Lankan military during their counter-insurgency campaign, which included deliberate shelling of civilians and hospitals, and systematic rape. It also says nothing about the abuses of the Nigerian military in their efforts in the northeast, which has included burning homes, indiscriminate mass arrests, detentions without trial and extrajudicial killings of thousands of men and boys.
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That is what the Nigerian military needs to address, and urgently. In combating the criminal brutality of Boko Haram, the government needs to work with the population at risk and not treat them – as Sri Lanka’s government did – as the enemy. Still, I am glad to see the final lines in their new statement: “…the military remains very conscious of Nigeria’s international commitment, especially in the observance of human rights obligations.”
It added: “If that is another way of saying that Nigeria rejects the “Sri Lankan method” of fighting insurgency and will cease its own abuses, then that offers some hopeful news. Their reaction is strange for a couple reasons. First, they claim that I am somehow inventing the whole thing, when actually it was the statement issued by DDI Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, himself (on behalf of CDS, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh) that said they were keen on Sri Lanka’s method of fighting an insurgency, and praised that model.”