The Koshebe massacre took place on 28 November 2020 in the village of Koshebe, Nigeria, in

Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...

, when as many as 110 civilians and peasant farmers were killed and six were wounded as they worked in rice fields in Koshebe village, near the northeast Nigerian city of

Maiduguri Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border form ...

. The attack was thought to be carried out by the

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

insurgency. About 15 women were also kidnapped.

Background

Since the

2009 Boko Haram uprising The 2009 Boko Haram uprising was a conflict between Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, and Nigerian security forces. History Violence across several states in northeastern Nigeria resulted in more than 1,000 dead, with around 700 killed ...

in northern Nigeria, thousands of people have been killed and thousands more wounded in Nigeria,

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesChad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. The leader of Boko Haram at the time, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in

in 2009. Boko Haram has killed more than 30,000 since 2009. An attack near the village of

Gubio Gubio, also Gobiyo, is a Local Government Area of Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Gubio. It has an area of 2,464 km and a population of 152,778 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is ...

in June 2020 resulted in 81 deaths. In October 2020, Boko Haram carried out two separate attacks in fields near Maiduguri, slitting the throats of 22 farmers. Flooding in northwest Nigeria earlier in the year destroyed thousands of hectares of rice, and food prices rose substantially in 2020 mainly due to insecurity in food-producing regions.

Massacre

On 28 November 2020, Boko Haram militants slaughtered as many as 110 farm laborers in Koshebe village, located near Borno State's capital Maiduguri. The victims were tied up by the assailants and their throats slit in the village, an anti-Boko Haram militia told

AFP news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

. They were laborers from

Sokoto State Sokoto State (Hausa: Jihar Sokoto Fula: Leydi Sokoto 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤧𞤮𞥅𞤳𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤮𞥅) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the extreme northwest of the country on the national border with the Niger, Republic o ...

in northwest Nigeria and had traveled more than 1,000 kilometers to the area to find work. The spokesman of the Nigerian president,

Garba Shehu Mallam Garba Shehu born on (November 27, 1959) is a Nigerian Journalist and politician who serves as the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (b ...

, said the laborers did not have permission to work within the region where they were attacked, as the area had not been cleared of Boko Haram. The farmers were in a difficult situation as they were at risk of dying from starvation if they chose to stay at home, but were vulnerable to the insurgents if they ventured into the farmlands. The attack was due to an incident on 27 November where a Boko Haram gunman, who had been tormenting the farmers, was disarmed and arrested. The gunman ordered the farmers to cook for him, and while some were cooking rice, others struck at the gunman, tied him up and called for security. On 29 November, UN Humanitarian Coordinator

Edward Kallon Edward Kallon (born January 14, 1961 in Sierra Leone), is the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria. Kallon is also the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria (UNDP). H ...

said that armed men had arrived on motorcycles and proceeded to massacre the workers.

Reactions

Nigerian president The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Nigeri ...

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

condemned the massacre, and expressed grief over the killing of farmers on rice fields at Zabarmari, in Jere Local Government of Borno State, describing the terrorist killings as "...insane". The governor of Borno state,

Babagana Umara Zulum Babagana Umara Zulum (born 25 August 1969) is a Nigerian professor and politician. He has served as Governor of Borno State since 2019 under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Early life Babagana was born on August 25, 1969 ...

, lead the funeral of the victims, and called on the federal government to enlist more soldiers and security force members to protect the farmers.

References

{{Reflist Massacres perpetrated by Boko Haram 2020 murders in Nigeria 2020s in Borno State 2020s massacres in Nigeria Mass murder in Borno State Massacres in 2020 November 2020 crimes in Africa Terrorist incidents in Nigeria in 2020