Residents of Boko Haram territory suffer hunger

(MENAFN- Arab News) YOLA Nigeria: Boko Haram says it is building a separate state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria's medieval Muslim empires but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings kidnappings hunger and economic collapse.The militant group's five-year-old campaign has become one of the deadliest in the world with around 10000 people killed last year according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Hundreds mostly women and children have been kidnapped.It remains the biggest threat to the stability of Africa's biggest economy ahead of a vote on Feb. 14 in which President Goodluck Jonathan will seek re-election.But while it has matched Islamic State (IS) in its brutality it beheads its enemies on camera it has seriously lagged in the more mundane business of state building.'They are just going into your house and saying they have taken over' said Phineas Elisha government spokesman for Adamawa state one of three states under emergency rule to fight the insurgency.Villagers trapped by Boko Haram face food shortages slavery killing and a lock down on economic activity those who escaped say.'They have no knowledge about good governance' Elisha who saw the devastation caused by Boko Haram after government forces recaptured the town of Mubi in November.Boko Haram which never talks to media except to deliver propaganda videos to local journalists could not be reached for comment.Boko Haram's leaders talk about reviving one of the West African Islamic empires that for centuries prospered off the Saharan trade in slaves ivory and gold but they demonstrate little evidence of state building.In August a man saying he was Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau the military says it killed Shekau issued a video declaring a 'Muslim territory' in Gwoza by the Cameroon border.There were echoes of IS' proclaimed 'caliphate' in Iraq and Syria two months earlier. Boko Haram controls an area just over 30000 square km of territory about the size of Belgium according to a Reuters calculation based on security sources and government data.But while in Syria after initially brutal takeovers IS has tried to win over communities those who escaped Boko Haram say the rebels do little for them beyond forcing them to adopt their ways.'They provide raw rice to cook the rice that they stole from the shops. They provide a kettle and ... scarves to cover up the women' said Maryam Peter from Pambla village.'People are going hungry. They are only feeding on corn and squash. No meat nothing like that. The insurgents are not providing anything else' she added.Maryam said most daily interactions with the militants involved them questioning villagers on their movements and forbidding them from trying to escape a rule she managed to flout when she fled a week ago.A government-run camp in a former school is now her home along with 1000 others where mothers cook on outdoor fires while children run around. Some 1.5 million people have been rendered homeless by the war Oxfam says.And those the militants kill they often fail to bury. The first thing the Nigerian Red Cross has to do when a town falls back into government hands is clear the corpses Aliyu Maikano a Red Cross official told Reuters.After the army recaptured Mubi in November Maikano had to cover his nose to avoid the stench of rotting corpses.Those still alive 'were starved for food water almost everything there. There's no drinking water because (in) most of the wells there you'll find dead bodies' Maikano said.