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By Ahmed Kingimi
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, April 30 (Reuters) – Amnesty International called on Nigeria to investigate reports that at least 150 people, most of them children, had died in an army-run camp in north-central Kwara state – though the military said the reports were baseless.
The victims were reported to be among about 1,500 members of the Fulani community who were moved to the camp in Yikpata after facing escalating attacks by armed groups, Amnesty said on Thursday.
“Instead of finding safety, they face overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, restrictions on their movements, acute malnutrition and disease,” Amnesty said in a statement.
The military dismissed the report of deaths. “There is no verifiable evidence to support such an allegation,” Major General Michael Onoja, Director of Defence Media Operations, told Reuters.
“I doubt its veracity. Nothing like this has happened,” he added.
Amnesty said its researchers who visited the camp in April spoke to survivors who said starvation and disease were widespread, with multiple bodies buried in single graves.
Communities have come under increasing pressure as Islamist militants from the north push into the region, security analysts have said.
(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
