#News: UN Urges Nigeria To Restore Law And Order, Probe Boko Haram Killings

[HuffingtonPost]

By Stephanie Nebehay                

GENEVA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The United Nations called Nigeria  on Tuesday to restore law and order in the northeast and  investigate "mass killings" of civilians blamed on Boko Haram  insurgents.                

Nigeria's military said on Monday that at least 150 people  had been killed in clashes with Islamists in the northeastern  town of Baga, but the U.N. human rights office noted that there  were "wildly differing" accounts with some reports putting the  toll this year at 2,000.                

"While the exact details remain unclear, what appears fairly  certain is that mass killings and mass forced displacement have  occurred," U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told  a news briefing in Geneva.                

"We urge the government to act swiftly to restore law and  order while ensuring that security operations are conducted in  line with international law and full respect for human rights."                

Nigeria's military is battling to reclaim Baga from the  Sunni Muslim militants, who want to establish an Islamic state  in northern Nigeria.                

Boko Haram has killed thousands in a five-year rebellion  which is seen as the biggest security threat to Africa's top oil  producer and is a headache for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead  of what is likely to be a closely fought vote on Feb. 14.                

Opening his re-election campaign this month, he defended his  record on fighting the insurgency.                

There is also the risk of the militants destabilizing  neighboring countries. At least 143 Boko Haram fighters were  killed in an attack on a military camp in Cameroon on Monday,  the government in Yaounde said.                

Some 11,320 Nigerian refugees have fled the violence by  crossing into neighboring Chad since the start of the year, the  U.N. refugee agency said.                

"Some of them are stranded on an island on Lake Chad, called  Kangala Island, there are about 2,000 of them there," UNHCR  spokesman William Spindler said, adding that the agency was   transferring them to the Chad mainland.                

U.N. aid agencies have not been able to verify the number of  people displaced within Nigeria because of a lack of independent  access to the areas affected, but stand ready to provide  humanitarian assistance, OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said.       (Editing by Alison Williams)
Source: huffingtonPost