I Watched As Boko Haram Butchered 9 People In Front Of Me – Terror Victim Recounts

Boko Haram butchered nine people in front of me.
That day I decided to leave my village,” says Rachel
Daviguidam, still devastated by the carnage she
witnessed in September 2015.
One year on and this 30-year-old Cameroonian is still
unable to get the images out of her mind.
And this mother of seven cannot see herself returning
to her village of Golvadi in Cameroon’s Far North, an
area that has suffered multiple attacks by Boko Haram
jihadists based just across the border in Nigeria.
Over the past year, Daviguidam and her husband and
children have been living in Koza, a small town
surrounded by mountains about 100 kilometres (60
miles) from Maroua, capital of the Far North region.
Around 200,000 Cameroonians from the region have
fled their villages in fear of the violence carried out by
militants from Boko Haram, who last year pledged
allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Jihadists in this region kill, they torch entire villages,
they loot and they steal livestock. Sitting on the ground
in Koza’s stadium, this young mother cradles her
youngest, who is just three months old, occasionally
breastfeeding him.
Around her sit other displaced families. – ‘Life became
intolerable’ – Nearby, hundreds of people are waiting in
line to receive food handouts from the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Over the past 15 months, the ICRC has organised food
deliveries in Koza in a bid to combat malnutrition, says
Ibrahim Dit Falke, a local who works for the
organisation.
“Each household receives a package of 50 kilos (110
pounds) of rice, 25 kilos of maize flour, 25 kilos of
black-eyed peas, 10 litres (20 pints) of oil, a kilo of salt
and 12 kilos of enriched flour,” he says.
In this area where many of the displaced have
gathered, there have been numerous cases of
malnutrition, some of them severe.
“We are in an area dominated by farming and
agriculture, where most households make their living
through agriculture,” Dit Falke says.
“When you cut a household off from its fields, you cut
it off from its livelihood.”
As the food is handed out, Daviguidam, who comes
from a Christian family, recounts her story. “Life there
became intolerable,” she says.
“For three months, they would come to my house and
flog me and my children,” she explains.
“They said we were pagans. “They demanded that we
convert to Islam but we didn’t want to.”
If at the start, the Nigerian jihadists were only
targeting Christians, they soon stopped making any
distinction between Christians and Muslims, she says,
as she gets up to go and collect her food package
from a Red Cross volunteer.
‘I can’t cope’ – “I am happy to receive this gift,” smiles
another woman, Veved Nadama carrying a sack of rice
on her head, as two other women help her carry the
rest of the supplies.
For the past two years, this 25-year-old has lived in
Koza since she fled the border town of Kerawa, which
is home to 50,000 people and has been regularly
targeted by Boko Haram.
“When they killed two pupils in the village, my husband
and I decided to leave,” says the mother of two.
“There was shooting all the time. We weren’t able to
sleep in our home, we preferred to hide in the bush.”
Another of the displaced, Yauba Sumbi, says he’s
grateful for the sense of security in Koza, but like
many others, he is haunted by what he witnessed. “I
am traumatised.
I saw dead people, people with their throats cut,” he
says. “I can’t cope anymore.” He fled the border town
of Amchide in 2014 with his wife but only two of his
children.
“On the day we left, our neighbourhood was stormed
by Boko Haram and there was shooting.
We walked for three days and three nights through the
bush” to reach Koza. While part of the family managed
to escape, he has had no news about his five other
children who were unable to get out.
“I don’t know if they are alive or dead, if they are in
Nigeria or Cameroon,” he says.
“God only knows.”

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