•  

   

• 

   

   

   

Women abducted, raped by Boko Haram face stigma for carrying terrorists' babies

 

 

 

 

 

 

A soldier of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army looking at the remaining dilapidated buildings of the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in in Borno State north-eastern Nigeria on March 25, 2016… MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — After three months of sexual abuse, Jummai Usman managed to escape the clutches of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram. But when she returned to her village of Bama last year, her loved ones shunned her.
"I was treated as if I was also Boko Haram," said Usman, 45, a mother of eight who now lives in a refugee camp here. "My relations, friends and neighbors were suspicious of me. I didn’t like the way people treated me back there, like they were suspecting I could lead the insurgents back to attack them. So I left."
Usman's plight is increasingly common in Nigeria, according to a recent report by UNICEF and International Alert, a London-based charity that works to prevent violent conflict around the world. More than 2,000 women and girls abducted by Boko Haram since 2012 face mistrust and persecution when they eventually return home, the report found.
In its best known abduction, Boko Haram seized more than 200 girls two years ago from a school in Chibok. Most are still missing.
"These findings show a pressing need to do more to re-integrate those returning from captivity by Boko Haram," said Kimairis Toogood, International Alert's adviser in Nigeria. "Many of these girls already face lasting trauma of sexual violence and being separated from their families, so we must ensure they get all the support they need when they finally return."
The United Nations is appealing to the Nigerian government to help people like Usman reintegrate into society.
"Issues of recovery and rehabilitation are very important. The future of Nigeria is at risk," warned Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, the U.N.’s envoy on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Making Nigerians more welcoming of former captives won't be easy. Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, has brainwashed some victims to fight with the terror group or become suicide bombers, the report said. As a result, some Nigerians fear that abductees might have been sent home to commit violence.
According to UNICEF, women and girls staged 39 of Boko Haram's 89 attacks last year. Some women whose attacks were foiled told authorities they had been abducted by the group. Female bombers have staged many attacks this year, too.
Alhaji Musa Ngarnnam, 51, a resident of Ngarnnam, a suburb of Maiduguri, said those who return from Boko Haram camps are considered suspect and not welcome in the community.
Victims of sexual abuse are often described as “Boko Haram wives” who are “annoba,” carriers of the Boko Haram ideology, Ngarnnam said. He feared the victims might radicalize others.
"We can't trust those returning from Boko Haram camps because we fear they have been indoctrinated,” Ngarnnam said. “We can't allow them back, because they may attack us when we least expect it."
Others fear that children born as a result of sexual abuse by the terror group carry "bad blood" that might lead them to become Islamic extremists when they grow up.
"Popular cultural beliefs about ‘bad blood’ and witchcraft, as well as the extent of the violence experienced by people at the hands of (Boko Haram) form the basis of this fear," the report said.
Babagana Goni, 30, who barely escaped Boko Haram's onslaught when the militants took over the town of Bama in 2013, worry the terrorists have impregnated their victims with a new generation of terrorists.
"How can we accept them back? They are already carrying children of Boko Haram fathers," Goni said. "We can't allow children of Boko Haram back in our community because blood is thicker than water. ... We don't want them among us."
For Nana Kachalla, 22, the alienation after her harrowing captivity by Boko Haram has further traumatized her. Abducted three years ago, she recently escaped with the help of the Nigerian military.
Since returning home, "I was treated like a leper,” she said. "I wasn't even allowed to enter my home. They said I was Boko Haram, and they won't allow me back."
Kachalla, who also lives in the refugee camp here, has tried to convince her family and friends that she had no choice. She insists she hasn’t been infected by bad blood even though she was raped and forced into a marriage.
"I was picked by a leader of the Boko Haram ... to be his wife," Kachalla said. "Some of the women got killed because they refused to give in to their demands. He threatened to kill me if I didn't do what he said."