Leaving the women to their fate
Boko Haram kidnapped 16 women in Adawama state in northern Nigeria yesterday.
Locals said the hostages were seized in the bush while fetching firewood and fishing in a nearby river under the escort of two civilian vigilantes assisting the military against the Islamist insurgents.
“When the civilian vigilantes escorting the women saw the heavily armed Boko Haram fighters advancing on them they fled, leaving the women to their fate,” said Madagali resident Garba Barnabas.
Two women who escaped by jumping into the river and pretending to have drowned later returned to the village to raise the alarm, he added.
Madagali district, which lies on the border with Borno state, has been repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram during its nearly seven-year insurgency, which has left more than 17,000 people dead.
16 more women yanked into enslavement and misery.
The women who faked their own deaths to avoid being taken raised the alarm–
not the
peoplemen (surely) assigned to protect them.Sounds like the military should just arm women. The two quick thinkers who escaped showed more courage and sense of responsibility than their “protectors”.
Some Kurdish women fighters scared the pants off Daesh warriors in Iraq (or was it Syria?) a few months ago, roundly defeating them and recapturing some strategic town. So yes, that idea seems to have merit.
Women have the most skin in the game.
You have the right idea, Samantha.
But while both sides view women as property – to be defended from theft, but not at any risk to a man’s health or life – there will be no real resolution to the situation. Moderates have to start seeing women as autonomous people to be respected, too. I wonder when that will happen.