Nigeria army wives protest husbands' deployment to fight Boko Haram

Military wives in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri took to the streets in protest this week, burning tires to prevent their husbands' deployment to fight the armed group Boko Haram.

About 300 women and 500 children gathered since Monday at the gates of a military base in the Borno state capital, arguing that their spouses were ill-equipped to take on the violent separatist group.

Boko Haram has been waging a brutal insurgency since 2009. The group’s attacks have left thousands of people dead, despite a state of emergency imposed in three northeast states since May 2013 and a troop surge.

One soldier's wife, Rahina Ali, said that the Nigerian army simply doesn't have the firepower to do their jobs. "Our husbands are always given inferior weapons while the Boko Haram have superior weapons," she told AFP.

Another protesting wife, Thabita John, added: "No weapons for our husbands, no trip to Gwoza or any volatile place. We are tired of burying our loved ones."

President Goodluck Jonathan's declaration of a state of emergency in Borno and neighboring Yobe and Adamawa initially saw Boko Haram pushed out of urban centers.

But the thousands of extra troops, vehicles and aircraft have largely failed to stop their attacks in remote rural areas. This year, attacks have occurred on an almost daily basis.

After the kidnapping of close to 300 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram, protesters across the country took to the streets to decry what they called government fecklessness.

Locals claim that some parts of the northeast are effectively no-go areas for the military, with Boko Haram apparently better equipped than the soldiers sent to fight them.

This week’s protest by military wives follows a similar protest on Saturday.

The soldiers stationed in Maiduguri were due to retake the town of Gwoza, which Boko Haram overran last week, killing dozens of people and sending hundreds more fleeing.

Some survivors of the attack on Gwoza managed to make it to Maiduguri, nearly 85 miles away, but hundreds more were trapped on a nearby mountain and short on food.

Survivors of attacks frequently recount how the rebels used semi-automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and even armored personnel carriers.

One soldier who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the troops in the barracks in Maiduguri relied on run-down equipment.

"Our wives are speaking our minds ... we are grossly under-equipped," the soldier said. "Our guns are weak and armored carriers not serviceable."

A military spokesman in Maiduguri was not immediately available for comment.

Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse