Visiting the #LakeChad region of Chad including Bol and Bagasola, I found that what we hear about BH’s attacks in the media is just the tip of the iceberg. Eg, on ground UN situation report I got there shows that there were 4 different attacks in the 1st 4 days of Sep alone!
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And that’s in Chad alone! The attacks in villages near Bagasola and Kaiga Kindjiria killed 5 soldiers, 2 civilians and injured scores. None of these got to the press. I believe there are similar unreported attacks in the other countries affected by BH especially Nigeria.
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There might be two reasons why these incidents go unreported:
1. Govts want to portray a sign of (false) normalcy to promote their long-countered theory that BH has been defeated.
2. Media houses don’t have reps in the remotest parts of the #LakeChad that bears the brunt.
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Yet, it is very important to publish the stories of communities suffering BH’s devastation. This is not promoting BH or terrorism. It’s promoting the plight of voiceless victims of BH. They keep dying while governments continue to claim that BH is defeated.
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Only through on the ground reports will the world know what’s going on and that’s the best way to put pressure on govts to act decisively. Not reporting BH’s everyday attacks only plays into the hands of corrupt politicians and security heads while thrusting the victims...
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... to their killers. On 11 Sep, I undertook a 10-hour road journey from Bol to Bagasola (part of the areas BH operates), but I didn’t see a single security checkpoint or even surveillance vehicle! That’s because govts know that they can get away with this sheer negligence.
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