Amnesty International has called on Nigerian authorities to take urgent action to end the ongoing attacks by armed bandits on Dansadau District in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
In a post on its Facebook page, the organisation said dozens of villages in the district had been under siege for the past 10 days, with residents reportedly unable to enter or leave the affected communities because of the activities of armed groups.
It said the bandits invaded Yar Gada village on Sunday and deliberately set vehicles on fire, forcing residents to flee in different directions.
“For years, people can only travel on Magami-Dansadau road with military escort,” Amnesty International said, highlighting the prolonged insecurity affecting movement along the route.
The organisation also reported that residents of some affected villages claimed they had received advance warnings of impending attacks through telephone calls.
According to the residents, the armed groups had also demanded huge sums of money, threatening to kill or abduct those who failed to pay.
Amnesty International described the violence in Zamfara as “Nigeria’s forgotten conflict,” arguing that the failure to protect civilians had left villagers vulnerable to repeated attacks.
The organisation said armed bandits had killed hundreds of people in the state over the past decade, while the continuing insecurity had severely disrupted the lives of rural communities.
It further criticised what it described as the low priority given to the crisis, despite its devastating impact on residents.
“The Nigerian authorities have repeatedly claimed to be tackling the situation, but the mounting death toll tells a different story,” the organisation said.
Amnesty International urged the government to strengthen efforts to protect civilians, restore security in affected communities and end the cycle of killings, abductions and extortion.
Amnesty raises alarm over bandits’ siege on Zamfara’s Dansadau