The Nigerian authorities have provided little information and no justice for a military airstrike on January 24, 2023, that killed 39 civilians and injured at least 6 others.
- The military's unacceptable delay in owning up to the killing and injuring dozens of civilians only compounds the tragedy of this attack.
- The Nigerian military should provide full accountability for their actions and financial compensation and livelihood assistance based on the needs of the victims and their families.
(Abuja) - The Nigerian authorities have provided little information and no justice for a military airstrike on January 24, 2023 that killed 39 civilians and injured at least 6 others, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should ensure an urgent, independent, impartial, and transparent inquiry into the attack that took place in Kwatiri, a small settlement in Nasarawa State.
Almost six months after the incident, the Nigerian air force admitted for the first time, in response to an inquiry from Human Rights Watch, to carrying out the airstrike. It said it was an air component of Operation Whirl Stroke, a joint military, police, and department of state security operation deployed in response to security problems in and around Nasarawa State. The air force claimed it carried out the airstrike in response to "suspected terrorist" activities but provided no details.
"The military's unacceptable delay in owning up to the killing and injuring dozens of civilians only compounds the tragedy of this shocking attack," said Anietie Ewang, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Nigerian military should provide full accountability for their actions as well as financial compensation and livelihood assistance commensurate with the needs of the victims and their families."
Since 2017, over 300 people are reported to have been killed by airstrikes that the Nigerian air force claimed were intended for bandits or members of the Islamist armed group Boko Haram, but instead hit civilians.
On January 25, Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule told Nigerian media that the airstrike, which hit a group of cattle herders in the settlement in Doma Local Government Area of the state, had been carried out by an unidentified drone.
Between March 13 and 15, Human Rights Watch interviewed 12 people, including two survivors of the airstrike and seven family members of victims who were killed. Human Rights Watch also reviewed and verified eight photographs showing some of the bodies and on March 14 visited a mass grave where 31 bodies were buried.
The photos showed about 17 bodies with deep perforating injuries and ghastly wounds. Human Rights Watch investigations, including interviews with victims who survived and family members of some of the deceased, revealed they were cattle herders and found no evidence that the targets of the airstrike had any link to bandit gangs or other armed groups.
On May 3, Human Rights Watch wrote to the Nigerian chief of air staff, who oversees the air force, which carries out military air operations, and the chief of defense staff, who oversees all military units including the air force, to provide details of its findings and to request answers to specific questions about the airstrike.
In a response on May 17, Air Commodore D. D. Pwajok, on behalf of the chief of air staff, acknowledged that the air force carried out the strike based "on credible intelligence and in synergy with other security forces and agencies in Nasarawa State." The letter said that air force surveillance footage showed the movement of "suspected terrorists" who converged around "a truck suspected to be a logistics vehicle," which arrived at the location at night and was determined to be a target for the airstrike.
The letter did not respond to key questions, including how information regarding the suspected threat was considered and verified, whether efforts were made to investigate and verify the identity of those targeted, or if any assessment was carried out before the airstrike to avoid or mitigate civilian harm. The absence of details raises the question of whether the air force carried out the airstrike based on mere suspicion. The letter concluded that the Nigerian air force is committed to upholding human rights and is open to further deliberations on the issue.
Those interviewed said that about two weeks before the incident, officers of the Benue State Livestock Guards, who enforce the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing Law, seized over 1,000 cows from nomadic herders who were grazing cattle in Naka, Benue State, close to the Nasarawa State border. The law prohibits the movement of livestock on foot within the state. The herders were fined 27 million naira (about US$58,000) after the livestock guards accused them of crossing into Benue State, in contravention of the law.
Three of the herders said that after they paid the fine, the livestock guards instructed the herders to move the cows by truck back to Nasarawa State to the area where the airstrike took place. The first truck arrived in Kwatiri on January 24 around 7 p.m., shortly before the airstrike.
Two men from the community of cattle herders hit by the airstrike said that they rushed to the scene shortly after the explosion and found several bloodied bodies on the ground, but they had to leave quickly fearing more explosions. They returned the following morning to a devastating scene, where they counted 39 dead bodies scattered around and found 6 people with deep flesh and bone wounds.
The herders said they believe the airstrike intentionally targeted them in reprisal for grazing in Benue. They contended that state authorities are hostile to Fulani herders, whom they call bandits and see as the instigators of a farmer-herder conflict in the area.
A January 26 Nigerian news report suggested that the airstrike was an erroneous military bombardment intended to neutralize bandits based on intelligence provided by security operatives in Benue State that turned out to be incorrect.
International and Nigerian media as well as Nigerian research organizations have reported that the Nigerian security forces have been implicated in several air operations, some erroneous, leading to the killing of citizens.
Nigeria's international partners, including the United States, should ensure that security cooperation programs do not enable or encourage serious human rights violations. They should increase transparency and center their reporting and oversight mechanisms on compliance with human rights standards.
"The Nigerian authorities should express their commitment to protecting the rights of citizens by conducting prompt and transparent investigations, publicizing findings, and taking steps toward justice and accountability," Ewang said. "Foreign governments should support these efforts and also pressure the authorities to take steps to scrutinize their security operations and adopt necessary measures to avoid civilian harm."
For more details on the crisis in the Middle Belt and Northwest states and the airstrike, including witness accounts, please see below.
Violent disputes over the use of natural resources between nomadic herders, mostly ethnic Fulani, and farmers have escalated in Nasarawa and other states in Nigeria's Middle Belt and Northwest region over the last decade. The situation has evolved from spontaneous reprisal attacks to deadly planned attacks by militia groups on both sides that have led to deaths and displacement across the region.
The violence and a host of other exacerbating factors have given rise to criminal groups popularly referred to as bandits who are associated with herder-allied militias. Bandit gangs carry out killings, kidnapping for ransom, rape, and pilfering in the Northwest and Middle Belt regions.
In 2017, the Benue State government, in response to the tensions, enacted the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing Law, which prohibits nomadic herding of cattle within the state. In 2022, the law, which was widely criticized, was amended to provide stiffer penalties for offenders.
Security forces carry out land and air operations to counter the activities of bandits in several states across the Middle Belt and Northwest.
Notably in 2018, the Nigerian Ministry of Defence initiated Operation Whirl Stroke, comprising all military services, the police, and the state security department, to counter the activities of bandits in Nasarawa, Benue, Taraba, and Zamfara states. Also that year, the Nigerian air force created three rapid response wings in Nasarawa, Benue, and Taraba states to respond to security problems. The rapid response wing in Nasarawa is in Doma Local Government Authority (LGA).
History of Erroneous Airstrikes
In February, SBM Intelligence, a Nigerian research organization that focuses on crisis and conflict issues, documented an increase in erroneous airstrikes by the Nigerian air force since 2017, when a Nigerian air force airstrike hit a displacement camp in Rann, Borno State, killing over 70 people and injuring more than 120. The authorities assumed responsibility for the airstrike, which they said was an error, but have yet to investigate and compensate victims.
According to the US media outlet The Intercept, the US government played an unacknowledged role in the airstrike by possibly providing intelligence or other support to the Nigerian military. US authorities have been silent on their role in the airstrike.
There has been limited acknowledgement from the Nigerian air force of other cases of erroneous airstrikes, and little or no efforts to ensure adequate justice or accountability.
A senior Nasarawa State government official told Human Rights Watch that prior to the Kwatiri incident, there had been other unreported erroneous airstrikes in Nasarawa State, including one in November 2022 in the Adudu community of Obi LGA, which killed 10 people, including a nursing mother and her child.
In October 2022, the Nigerian air force announced
