TheCable

Eight of the hundreds of women recently rescued by the Nigerian military in Sambisa forest delivered their babies inside the forest and its surrounding hamlets, the women have told TheCable.

Speaking at Malkohi, one of the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Yola, Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria, the women said their ordeal in the forest was inhumane, as they welcomed their newborn in such harsh conditions.

Most of the women, who asked not to be named, said some of them gave birth in Sambisa forest while being held captive by insurgents.

When they were asked how many of them gave birth in the forest, the women counted in unison with the tips of their fingers: One, two, three, four…eight.

“Some of the children died due to the harsh weather conditions in the forest,” one said.

“In the bush, there is heat and cold. I took five children with me to the forest, but the one I was nursing died due to the weather.”

Attempts to speak to those who lost their newborn failed, as they were too grief-stricken to favour an interview with a journalist.

Lamin Musa, who considered herself very fortunate, was captured pregnant and she delivered in Sambisa, one day before a successful rescue mission of the military.

“I don’t know the exact day I gave birth, because we had lost touch with the days of the week,” Musa said. “But I delivered in the night, and the military rescued us the next morning.”