US Team Deploys to Nigeria as Additional Girls are Kidnapped
May 7, 2014 in Nigeria
As a team of US experts deploys to Nigeria in a bid to locate more than 200 schoolgirls abducted last month by Boko Haram militants, news has spread that an additional eleven girls have been kidnapped in the northern region of the country. News of these latest kidnappings comes just one day after Boko Haram’s leader confirmed the militant group’s involvement and threatened to sell the girls.
On Monday, the leader of Boko Haram confirmed that the militant group was behind the abduction of over 200 girls who were kidnapped three weeks ago in northeaster Nigeria. In the new 57-minute video released Monday, Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau added “I will sell them in the market, by Allah….Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions.” In the video, Shekau also notes that the girls should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married.
On the night of 14 April, Boko Haram militants stormed an all-girls secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno State. The girls, aged 16 to 18, were forced onto trucks and taken into the remote areas along the border with Cameroon. Although fifty-three of the girls managed to escape from the militants, according to police officials 223 are still being held. Unconfirmed sources in Nigeria have indicated that the girls have been taken across the border and into neighbouring countries, including Chad and Cameroon, with some reports indicating that some of the girls had been forced to marry their abductors, who paid a nominal bride price of US $12 (£7).
On Tuesday, residents reported that suspected Boko Haram militants have kidnapped eleven more girls from Nigeria’s embattled north eastern region. According to one eyewitness, the militants arrived in two trucks and “…moved door to door looking for girls,” adding that “they forcefully took away eight girls between the ages of 12 and 15.” Another eyewitness reported that the militants also seized animals and food from the village. According to a local government official, “after leaving Warabe the gunmen stormed the Wala village which is five kilometres away and abducted three more girls.” The latest kidnappings occurred late Sunday in the villages of Warabe and Wala, which are located in the Gwoza area of Borno State. Due to poor communication in the area, details of the latest kidnappings did not emerge until Tuesday. The area around the two villages is known to be a stronghold of the militant group.
While Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency in northern Nigeria has over the past year intensified, the attack and kidnapping of the girls has shocked Nigerians and has resulted in an international outcry for their safe return. Since the launch of military operations in three northern states last May, Boko Haram, which continues to be the main security threat in the country and regionally, has grown bolder in its attacks and has extended its reach. The April 14 kidnapping occurred on the day a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, killed seventy-five people near Abuja, the first attack to be carried out in the capital city in two years. More than two weeks later, the militants, who say they are fighting to create an Islamic state, carried out a second bomb attack, killing 19 people and wounding 34 in the suburb of Nyanya.
The girl’s abduction has been a huge embarrassment for the government, which has failed to locate them, while Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has been under increasing pressure to act against the militant group. The latest incidents will likely overshadow the country’s first hosting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for Africa, which is set to take place on May 7 – 9 in Abuja.
US Deployment
In the wake of increasing frustration over the Nigerian government’s failure to locate the 223 missing schoolgirls, the United States has accepted an offer to aid in the search.
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama confirmed the deployment of a team of US experts, stating that the group is comprised of personnel from the military, law enforcement and other agencies, adding that he hopes the kidnapping may galvanise the international community to take action against Boko Haram. US Secretary of State John Kerry also indicated Tuesday that Washington will set up a co-ordination cell at its embassy in Abuja which will include US military personnel, law enforcement officials and experts in hostage situations.
While US officials have stated that the first group of abducted girls, who are aged between 16 and 18, may have already been smuggled over Nigeria’s porous borders into countries such as Chad and Cameroon, officials from the two neighbouring states have indicated that at this time they do not believe the girls are in their countries.
The United Kingdom has also offered to help Nigerian authorities in their search. On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that the UK would assist the Nigerian government if they received such a request however what form the assistance would take was not specified by Hague.
Doubts Emerge Over Death of Boko Haram Leader
August 21, 2013 in Africa, NigeriaDoubts have emerged this week over the Nigerian military’s claims that the leader of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram may have been killed. Questions have been raised over the timing of the announcement, which came on the day that the Joint Task Force (JTF) concluded its work and handed over its duties to a newly created military division that has been charged with the battle to end Boko Haram’s four-year insurgency.
On Monday, a security task force in north-eastern Nigeria issued a statement indicating that Abubakar Shekau, who was declared a “global terrorist” by the United States, “may have died” from a gunshot wound after a clash with soldiers on Jun 30.” The statement further noted that “it is greatly believed that Shekau may have died between 25 July to 3 August 2013” after being taken over the border into Amitchide in neighboring Cameroon. The statement also indicated that an intelligence report suggests that Shekau was shot when soldiers raided a Boko Haram base at Sambisa Forest in north-eastern Nigeria.
However by Tuesday, local media reported that there had been increasing unease within the military pertaining to the claims. Task force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa declined to comment when contacted about the statement, indicating only that he had left Maiduguri, which is the epicentre of Boko Haram’s insurgency and where the force was based. National defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade has also distanced himself from the statement. Some sources have indicated that senior members within the military were unhappy with the release of the statement as there was not yet enough evidence to make such claims and that intelligence was still being analyzed.
Claims of Shekau’s death come one week after the Nigerian military stated that on 14 August, it had killed Boko Haram’s second-in-comment, Momodu Bama, also known by his alias “Abu Saad.” However so far, there have been confirmations relating to his death. In turn, a video message released on 12 August depicted a man who appeared to be Shekau, who insisted that he was in good health. He had also referred to attacks which had occurred in early August. The military statement released on Monday however has specified that the video was a fake. So far there have been no independent confirmations pertaining to this video.
Washington’s response to these latest claims have come with the US State Department stating that it had seen the reports pertaining to Shekau and that it was currently “working to ascertain the facts,” nothing that he had already been falsely reported dead in 2009. US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf added that “he is the most visible leader of Boko Haram, and if his death turns out to be true, the loss of such a central and well-known figure would set back Boko Haram’s operations and remove a key voice from its efforts to mobilize violent extremists in Nigeria and around the world.”
Shekau has been considered the leader of Boko Haram ever since the terrorist group’s founder Muhammad Yusuf, died in 2009 while in police custody. Since taking over, the terrorist group’s insurgency has seen a violent turn, with thousands being killed in attacks that have been carried out on school children, teachers the UN, the police, north-eastern traditional leaders, journalists, mobile phone towers and ordinary Nigerians going about their lives. In March of this year, the United States placed a US $7 million (5.3 million euro) bounty on his head. If these most recent claims of Abubakar Shekau’s death are confirmed, his passing will likely represent a significant moment in the future of the terrorist group, however it is unlikely that Boko Haram will end its violence in the northern regions of the Nigeria. Instead, this may fuel further retaliatory attacks that will likely target political and security officials along with military bases. Furthermore, the group has a number of factions, such as al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru, which has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and killing of a number of Westerners. Such factions are believed to operate independently and any confirmations of Shekau’s death will likely result in retaliatory kidnappings and attacks that will be linked to his death.
Boko Haram Leader Rejects Potential Amnesty Deal
April 11, 2013 in NigeriaLast week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan tasked a high level team with looking into the possibility of granting a pardon to members of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram, which literally translates to “Western education is forbidden”, is a militant Islamist movement which based in the northeast region of Nigeria. Members strongly oppose man-made laws and westernization, and hold a desire to establish their form of Sharia Law in the country, using violence and terrorist tactics to carry out their aims, resulting in the deaths of over 3,000 people since 2009. Analysts believe that growing ties to other Islamist groups in West Africa, such as AQIM, have further mobilized Nigerian militants more towards Western targets. In February, a French family of seven was kidnapped in northern Cameroon and is still being held by suspected Boko Haram militants. Boko Haram has recently been designated a global terrorist group by the United States.
On 6 April, militants suspected of belonging to Boko Haram shot or hacked eleven people to death in the northeast Nigerian village of Madube, including at a deputy governor’s home. Six more people were wounded in the attack. The deputy governor was not harmed.
President Jonathan asked for the panel to examine amnesty following intense pressure from politicians and Nigeria’s highest Muslim spiritual figure, the Sultan of Sokoto. They believe the army’s response to the insurgency is not bringing peace. In 2009, Nigeria offered an amnesty to militants in the southern part of the country, near the oil-producing Niger Delta. The amnesty was credited with greatly reducing unrest there.
The panel, comprised of national security officials, northern leaders and others, is scheduled to report later this month. However, an audio statement believed to be from the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau, claimed that his group “not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty”.
“Surprisingly,” he said, “the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon.” The message continued with a list of what Shekau describes as the state’s atrocities against Muslims.
As if to emphasize their rejection of amnesty, Yobe State Police Commissioner confirmed that four officers were gunned down in the early hours of Thursday (11 April) in a firefight with Boko Haram. The militants intended to burn down the station, but were thwarted. Five gunmen were killed, but some rifles were lost to the attackers.
