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Nigeria: Once seized by Boko Haram, Damasak now returns to normalcy

Many residents were forced to flee and lived as refugees in Niger and in the remote villages of Nigeria.

By :  amrit sadhana
Update: 2017-04-27 10:14 GMT
Thousands of people in Damasak fled the town when Boko Haram extremists seized it in the fall of 2014. Two years later, residents are now returning home to start their lives afresh.
Yet in many ways, the lives of people returned to normal since Nigerian troops and regional allies recaptured Damasak in July last year.
Women suffered the worst in Boko Haram's rape camps. They were victims of forced marriages and sexual slavery. After being freed, they lived in displacement camps.
Boko Haram mainly targeted schools because of their opposition to Western education, which the militants believe corrupts the values of Muslims.
Residents say the total number of abducted children is more than 500. But very little has been done to get back.
But a bigger problem is that hundreds of children are still missing. It has been more than two years since the militant Islamist group abducted 219 school girls.
Damasak bears signs of the eight-year long insurgency that killed at least 20,000 people, left millions homeless and caused a severe food shortage and resources.
Many residents were forced to flee and lived as refugees in Niger and in the remote villages of Nigeria.

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