THE fighting between the jihadists of Boko Haram and the
Nigerian government has uprooted almost 2m people in northeastern Nigeria;
more than 5m are in need of food aid. The misery in the region was compounded
on January 17th, when a Nigerian military jet mistakenly bombed an informal
refugee camp sheltering thousands of people displaced by the violence.
At least 76 people were killed and more than 100 were injured
when the bombs hit Rann camp, home to 43,000 people. Among the dead were six
Red Cross volunteers and three Médecins Sans Frontières contractors.
The air strike—a “regrettable operational mistake”,
according to Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari—reinforces long-standing
doubts over the level of training and skills of Nigeria’s security forces, and
the efficacy of its counter-terrorism operation in the region. Although
soldiers are no longer sent off to fight without boots or bullets by generals
sitting safely in the capital, as regularly happened two years ago,
deficiencies in training and equipment are still evident.
Source: The Economist
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