Following reports from leaders of Eha Amufu community, Enugu state, a joint team of NEMA South East Zonal Office and Enugu State Emergency Management Agency (ENSEMA) conducted on the spot assessment of attack by unknown gunmen to ascertain the real cause of the unrest, the extent of damages, number of casualties if any, where the injured persons were taken to, needs of the affected population and make appropriate recommendations.
During the assessment, the joint team observed that the road at Eha Amufu were blocked by the aggrieved women because of the alleged disruption of farming activities by unknown gunmen. They insisted that government should show concern in their predicament. The protest by women led to a long queues of vehicles.
The joint team during their various interactive sessions sympathized with the women over their huge losses and assured them of government intervention. The team stated that the purpose of the visit is to obtain first hand information of the cause of incident with other relevant information and to make appropriate recommendations. Finally, the joint team urged the women to maintain peaceful, embrace dialogue and await government interventions.
Findings from the assessment revealed that the women are from various villages of Eha Amufu and the unfortunate incident had resulted to loss of lives, raping of women, kidnapping of community members, increased insecurity, destruction of property/ farm lands including harvested crops. Evidence of some of the injured women were seen including the complex trauma suffered by them as a result of the unfortunate incident.
The very precarious situation during the assessment visit prevented the team from further visiting the affected areas where houses and farmlands were said to have been destroyed.
The aggrieved women are seeking for government intervention to end the attack by arm unknown gunmen, the deployment of security men to help safeguard them in their farmlands, and relief Intervention to cushion the effect of their huge losses.
