Recent military gains against insurgents

Even though the insurgents were known to be engaged in abducting many women and children, the scale of this was not known until the recent rescue. Even so, there is as yet no conclusive evidence that any of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls the insurgents seized from their dormitory in Borno State town in April 2014 […]

Even though the insurgents were known to be engaged in abducting many women and children, the scale of this was not known until the recent rescue. Even so, there is as yet no conclusive evidence that any of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls the insurgents seized from their dormitory in Borno State town in April 2014 is among the rescued.
The insurgents had made the Sambisa forest their base from which they occasionally emerged to launch attacks on Nigerian and multinational troops assembled to confront them. It is not clear what strategic obstacles were achieved from the delay in storming the forest much earlier, but the sentiment is that due to sustained air and land bombardments, the insurgents became tired of running with so many of the women and children in tow.
The Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, said many of the women were undergoing medical tests and screening for various diseases and infections, including HIV/AIDS. “About 214 of those already screened were discovered to be at various stages of pregnancies, some visibly pregnant and some just tested pregnant, but we are supporting all of them with various levels of care to stabilize them,” he said.
He also noted that some of the freed children who were born in the forest had never been out in the open until their rescue.
The development has restored a measure of confidence in the army’s ability to finally deliver the promised fatal blow to defeat the insurgency.  Clearly, with some of the cockpit video footage released by the army showing what looked like the insurgents running helter-skelter and in disarray as the camera captured their flight, Nigerians would believe that the insurgency may finally be in its death-throes. However, there’s much more to do to achieve that ultimate objective.
There is also need for much introspection on the part of the government and the military commanders in order to explain why the storming of the Sambisa forest didn’t happen much earlier.
The pregnant women and young girls pose a complex and delicate dilemma to the authorities on what to do about their condition. Apart from health, there are also ethical issues to examine and decide upon.
There is no doubt that some may be characterised as ‘unwanted pregnancies’, but in whose estimation? Some may be determined to endanger the health of the mother. A decision must to be made on each and every case, by the government, clerics, medical personnel, and the women themselves, on the way forward.
An urgent need now is concerted effort to rehabilitate them. The pictures of them released by the army indicate their need of proper nutrition, decent clothes and medical attention. These should be provided alongside psychological counselling.
 It is possible also that not all the women may be victims of abduction; some could have been wives to some of the insurgents, who fled the forest leaving them stranded; these should be screened and identified for special re-education programme, because without the men, the women cannot do much, or pose serious security risks, although caution should be applied.
The children need longer-term rehabilitation, to reintegrate them into normal life and to break the cycle of insurgency even before it starts by breeding another generation of insurgents, as some the Boko Haram commanders have predicted.
Above all, it is vital that the women and children’s past should not be used by the rest of the community to stigmatise them. The trauma they have suffered may not have been one of choice, and the last thing they need is to be reminded of it and treated like outcasts. They need love, care, sympathy and understanding. Nigerians have the capacity to provide these.