A
“ghost town” of burnt-out homes and looted properties greeted residents
returning to Gamboru in Borno State for the first time since Chadian
forces retook it from Boko Haram.
Scores
of people crossed the 300-metre (yard) bridge that forms the border
with Cameroon under military escort on Friday to survey the ravaged
town.
Boko
Haram seized Gamboru, in the violence-wracked Borno State, in August
last year, forcing thousands to flee across the frontier to the town of
Fotokol, on the other bank of the river in northern Cameroon.
Chadian
forces, who have joined the regional fight to crush the Islamist
insurgency, retook Gamboru earlier this month, after intense fighting
that left hundreds of insurgents dead.
“We
met a ghost town strewn with burnt vehicles, destroyed buildings and
emptied homes,” Kachalla Moduye told AFP by telephone from Fotokol after
a two-hour tour of the town.
“Many
homes were burnt in the Boko Haram invasion and in the fighting to
reclaim it by Chadian soldiers. Those that were spared were looted by
Boko Haram in the five months they stayed in the town.”
Gamboru
has been repeatedly targeted in the bitter conflict, which has left
more than 13,000 people dead since 2009 and made more than one million
homeless.
It
was the first town recaptured in the regional fight-back by troops from
Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, which was launched because of
dawning fears of Boko Haram’s threat to regional security.
Gamboru residents who hoped to salvage personal effects were disappointed as they found their homes empty.
“There
was nothing in my house save the three wooden beds and my old cushion
chairs. Every other item was stolen,” Fanna Bukar, a mother-of-three,
said.
“Even my sewing machine, which I so much looked forward to salvaging, was gone.”
But even though their possessions were gone, locals said the tour was reassuring.
“Seeing
is believing. We are now convinced our town has been liberated and we
hope to come back and rebuild our lives once Boko Haram is finally wiped
out,” Moduye said.
“I’m sure we will return soon to start a new life,” Bukar added.
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