Baga is a town in the northeastern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

n state of Borno, close to

Lake Chad Lake Chad (, Kanuri language, Kanuri: ''Sádǝ'', ) is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of four countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, in western and central Africa respectively, with a catchment area in excess of . ...

, and lying northeast of the town of

Kukawa Kukawa (Kanuri language, Kanuri for "Baobabs"), formerly Kuka ("Baobab"), is a town and local government areas of Nigeria, Local Government Area in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno State, Borno, close to Lake Chad. History The town wa ...

. It is located within the Kukawa

Local Government Area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. The town is approximately 196 km from

Maiduguri Maiduguri ( ) is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on the continent of Africa. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maid ...

, the capital of Borno State.Mukhtar, Yakubu and Waziri A. Gazali. The Dynamics of Fish Trade in North-East Nigeria: A Case Study of Doron Baga, ''Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs'' 268, Band 14, Frankfurt a.M. 2000: 83-91 The "Doron Baga" fish market, as of 2000, was located about six kilometres from the town. Baga used to lie on the border of Lake Chad and was a fishing center itself in the 1960s and 1970s, but the diminishing size of the lake has caused fishermen to move, and others have turned to subsistence farming.Idris, Hamza et al. (30 June 201
Nigeria: Northern Communities Losing Territory to Desert
''

Daily Trust Media Trust is a privately held Nigerian newspaper publishing company based in Abuja that publishes the English-language ''Daily Trust'', ''Weekly Trust'', ''Sunday Trust'' and the Hausa-language ''Aminiya'' newspapers, as well as a new pan-Afric ...

'' (AllAfrica.com)Bomford, Andrew (14 April 2006)
Slow death of Africa's Lake Chad
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' ("Just 30 years ago, water covered the whole area. Baga was a waterfront town. Now it is stranded many miles from the lake as the land around it becomes desert.")Murray, Senan (15 January 2007)
Lake Chad fisherman pack up their nets
''

'' The town and the nearby naval base have been under the control by the

Islamic State's West Africa Province Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number 2 billion worldwide and are the world's second-largest religious populatio ...

since December 2018.

Baga massacres

2013 Baga massacre

In April 2013, over 185 people were killed and over 2000 homes in Baga were destroyed as a result of fighting between the Nigerian military and the

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...

militant group; it is debatable which group was actually responsible.

2015 Baga massacre

In January 2015, Boko Haram attacked the town, seizing it and the military base used by a multinational force set up to fight them. The town was burned and the people massacred with some estimates claiming at least 2000 deaths the largest such massacre in Boko Haram's history. Some residents escaped to nearby

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

by swimming across

, though some died in the attempt. According to the Nigerian Ministry of Defence, no more than 150 people in total had been killed, including militants. Several government officials denied that the fatalities were as extensive as reported, with some even claiming that the massacre had never taken place or that the Nigerian military had repelled the militants from the region, a claim that was refuted by local officials, survivors, and the international media. Satellite imagery taken on 2 and 7 January was released by Amnesty International showing that in Baga, which is "less than two square kilometres in size, approximately 620 structures were damaged or completely destroyed by fire." In Doron Baga (or Doro Gowon), located about 2.5 km away, fishing boats present on the 2nd were no longer visible, and "more than 3,100 structures were damaged or destroyed by fire affecting most of the 4 square kilometre town."Amnesty International.
Nigeria: Satellite Images Show Horrific Scale of Boko Haram Attack On Baga
'' allAfrica.com, January 15, 2015

2018

On 27 December, Boko Haram attacked a military base in the town of Baga, killing 10 people. Most reports agree that the town is now under the control of the terrorist organisation.

References

{{reflist Populated places in Borno State