DISPATCHES: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN BAGA, NIGERIA?

Since January 3, Boko Haram militants have attacked –almost on a daily basis –the area surrounding Baga, a fishing settlement on the shores of Lake Chad in Nigeria’s northeast Borno State.
The exact death toll in Baga and 16 surrounding villages is unknown, with estimates ranging from “dozens” to 2000 or more. “No one stayed back to count bodies,” one local resident told Human Rights Watch. “We were all running to get out of town ahead of Boko Haram fighters who have since taken over the area.”Satellite imagery acquired by Human Rights Watch reveals evidence of large-scale destruction, particularly in the town of Doro Gowon, the site of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) base, a few kilometers from Baga. Nigeria, Chad, and Niger established the MNJTF in 1998, initially to check criminal activities in the border areas between the three countries. The MNJTF expanded in 2012 to include Cameroon and Benin and cover counter-terrorism operations against Boko Haram in the region.