Showing posts tagged as "Boko Haram"

Showing posts tagged Boko Haram

16 Apr
Voice of America | Boko Haram Video Brings Threat to Nigerian Government ‘Doorstep’ A 14-minute YouTube video is heightening tensions between Nigeria’s government and a violent Islamist sect President Goodluck Jonathan has promised to destroy. Analysts say the video has revealed the president’s miscalculation of the extremist threat. The YouTube video opens with graphics of spinning flowers and crossed AK-47s.  Bubble letters identify it as a message to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan made by the group that calls itself People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad, more commonly known as Boko Haram. The group’s suspected leader, Abubakar Shekau, is seated with four armed and masked men. He tells viewers the Nigerian president was boasting two weeks ago when he said the government would destroy the group within three months.   “We have sworn and we are telling you, Jonathan, that there is nothing that you can do to stop us,” Shekau says. FULL ARTICLE (VOA) Photo: VOA/YouTube

Voice of America | Boko Haram Video Brings Threat to Nigerian Government ‘Doorstep’

A 14-minute YouTube video is heightening tensions between Nigeria’s government and a violent Islamist sect President Goodluck Jonathan has promised to destroy. Analysts say the video has revealed the president’s miscalculation of the extremist threat.

The YouTube video opens with graphics of spinning flowers and crossed AK-47s.  Bubble letters identify it as a message to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan made by the group that calls itself People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad, more commonly known as Boko Haram.

The group’s suspected leader, Abubakar Shekau, is seated with four armed and masked men. He tells viewers the Nigerian president was boasting two weeks ago when he said the government would destroy the group within three months.  

“We have sworn and we are telling you, Jonathan, that there is nothing that you can do to stop us,” Shekau says.

FULL ARTICLE (VOA)

Photo: VOA/YouTube

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22 Mar
The Nigerian military’s Joint Task Force has killed nine suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamist militant group in the northern Nigerian town of Tudun Wada, about 60 miles from the city of Kano. The suspected militants were killed shortly after they had reportedly used explosive devices in an attempt to destroy Divisional Police headquarters. The suspected sect members also appear to have used explosives to destroy a nearby bank, but police officials say that the militants failed to take away the money inside. All the bank’s money appears to have remained intact. Wednesday’s attack follows a shooting attack on Tuesday in the Sharada section of Kano, where gunmen on a motorcycle shot into a crowd, killing at least three people. Boko Haram is blamed for the deaths of more than 1,000 people since its armed rebellion began in 2009. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is a sin,” claims to be fighting to overthrow the secular government of Nigeria, seeking instead a nationwide application of traditional Islamic sharia law. Yet some analysts believe that the rebellion is primarily aimed at a corrupt Muslim elite of politicians who use their power for their own enrichment, rather than for the improvement of the relatively impoverished areas of the north. … “There have been preliminary talks between a Boko Haram-appointed intermediary.” But given the fractious nature of the Boko Haram militancy, Andrew Stroehlein of the International Crisis Group told Al Jazeera that it’s not entirely certain whether the Nigerian government is talking to Boko Haram as a whole, or just members of a breakaway faction. FULL ARTICLE (Christian Science Monitor) Photo: Raoulduke47/Wikimedia Commons

The Nigerian military’s Joint Task Force has killed nine suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamist militant group in the northern Nigerian town of Tudun Wada, about 60 miles from the city of Kano. The suspected militants were killed shortly after they had reportedly used explosive devices in an attempt to destroy Divisional Police headquarters.

The suspected sect members also appear to have used explosives to destroy a nearby bank, but police officials say that the militants failed to take away the money inside. All the bank’s money appears to have remained intact.

Wednesday’s attack follows a shooting attack on Tuesday in the Sharada section of Kano, where gunmen on a motorcycle shot into a crowd, killing at least three people. Boko Haram is blamed for the deaths of more than 1,000 people since its armed rebellion began in 2009. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is a sin,” claims to be fighting to overthrow the secular government of Nigeria, seeking instead a nationwide application of traditional Islamic sharia law. Yet some analysts believe that the rebellion is primarily aimed at a corrupt Muslim elite of politicians who use their power for their own enrichment, rather than for the improvement of the relatively impoverished areas of the north.

…

“There have been preliminary talks between a Boko Haram-appointed intermediary.” But given the fractious nature of the Boko Haram militancy, Andrew Stroehlein of the International Crisis Group told Al Jazeera that it’s not entirely certain whether the Nigerian government is talking to Boko Haram as a whole, or just members of a breakaway faction.

FULL ARTICLE (Christian Science Monitor)

Photo: Raoulduke47/Wikimedia Commons

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19 Mar
Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram have been in indirect talks to end deadly violence blamed on the Islamist group, sources familiar with the discussions have revealed. “There have been preliminary talks between a Boko Haram-appointed intermediary,” a senior security official told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity, adding that Boko Haram has set out terms for a temporary ceasefire. The diplomatic source said contact had been made between Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram through intermediaries. The security official said Boko Haram has proposed a three-month truce if all of its detained members are released and if the government halts any further arrests. He said the government was looking at the proposal. The news of planned negotiations comes as more violence was reported in the troubled town of Maiduguri, in northern Nigeria. Authories said two people were killed on Thursday by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram. ‘Level of uncertainty’ Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the capital Abuja, said that the biggest challenge for Nigerian authorities would be establishing who represents and speaks for the hardline group. “The Nigerian police have gathered intelligence from suspects arrested, but the leaders are still at large and one can imagine that there will be a level of uncertainty on the part of the authorities that they are engaging the right people. Andrew Stroehlein, communications director of the International Crisis Group in Brussels, told Al Jazeera that while talks were a positive development, there were a range of difficult questions to consider. “First of all, it is not sure that they are talking to the right people, especially with the factionalism prevalent in Boko Haram. This means that even if they reach an agreement, this does not mean that the agreement will be honoured,” he said. FULL ARTICLE (Al Jazeera)

Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram have been in indirect talks to end deadly violence blamed on the Islamist group, sources familiar with the discussions have revealed.

“There have been preliminary talks between a Boko Haram-appointed intermediary,” a senior security official told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity, adding that Boko Haram has set out terms for a temporary ceasefire.

The diplomatic source said contact had been made between Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram through intermediaries.

The security official said Boko Haram has proposed a three-month truce if all of its detained members are released and if the government halts any further arrests. He said the government was looking at the proposal.

The news of planned negotiations comes as more violence was reported in the troubled town of Maiduguri, in northern Nigeria.

Authories said two people were killed on Thursday by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram.

‘Level of uncertainty’

Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the capital Abuja, said that the biggest challenge for Nigerian authorities would be establishing who represents and speaks for the hardline group.

“The Nigerian police have gathered intelligence from suspects arrested, but the leaders are still at large and one can imagine that there will be a level of uncertainty on the part of the authorities that they are engaging the right people.

Andrew Stroehlein, communications director of the International Crisis Group in Brussels, told Al Jazeera that while talks were a positive development, there were a range of difficult questions to consider.

“First of all, it is not sure that they are talking to the right people, especially with the factionalism prevalent in Boko Haram. This means that even if they reach an agreement, this does not mean that the agreement will be honoured,” he said.

FULL ARTICLE (Al Jazeera)

NewsPoliticsNigeriaBoko HaramSecurity Sector Reform
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1 Feb

Global Observatory: Boko Haram: Interview with Dr. Comfort Ero, International Crisis Group

ANN WRIGHT

In this interview,  Dr. Comfort Ero, an Africa expert from the International Crisis Group, discusses Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group responsible for violent acts intended to destabilize Nigeria and ultimately create an Islamist state governed by Sharia law. Their recent attack on January 20th killed 178 people.

Dr. Ero said Boko Haram’s violent campaign threatens the stability of Nigeria, and that she sees clear signs “the group has become ever more dangerous,” though she believes that the evidence remains sketchy about the extent of Boko Haram’s networks with other terror groups.

FULL ARTICLE (Global Observatory) 

NewsPoliticsNigeriaBoko HaramICGterrorism
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Bloomberg: Nigerian Security Forces Arrest Islamist Fighters’ Spokesman

Gbenga Akingbule

Nigeria’s security police said they captured the alleged spokesman of the Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and attacks that have killed hundreds of people in Africa’s top oil producer.

“We’ve arrested Abu Qaqa, the so-called spokesman of the Boko Haram sect and one of its leaders,” Ahmed Abdullahi, director of the State Security Service, or SSS, in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, said today by phone.

Agents from the SSS, a plain clothes unit charged with state security, had tracked Qaqa for some time before apprehending him today in the northern city of Kaduna, said Abdullahi.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is a sin,” claimed responsibility for blasts that struck eight government buildings on Jan. 20 in Kano, the biggest city in northern Nigeria, killing at least 250 people, according to rights group Civil Rights Congress. A spokesman for the group, who gave his name as Abu Qaqa, told reporters by phone on Jan. 21 it carried out the attack to avenge the persecution of its members in the city.

Nigeria is roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south. More than 14,000 people died in ethnic and religious clashes in the West African nation between 1999 and 2009, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Boko Haram wants to impose sharia rule in Nigeria’s north.

FULL ARTICLE (BLOOMBERG)

NewsPoliticsBoko HaramNigeriasectarian violenceSahel Terrorism
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7 Nov

AP: Backlash likely in pursuit of Nigeria militants

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria faces a shapeless, shifting threat from a radical Muslim sect that has killed more than 100 people in recent days. While the country boasts one of Africa’s strongest armies, a military crackdown could drive more supporters into the extremists’ ranks.

The U.S. is now warning that the Boko Haram militants may strike next at luxury hotels in the capital of Abuja. Although the military is working to protect such sites, most of Boko Haram’s leaders are hiding in neighboring countries and followers easily blend into the population.

The last major government attempt to eradicate Boko Haram in 2009 from this region at the crossroads of Cameroon, Niger and Chad led to hundreds of deaths — and wound up fueling the group’s resurgence. The military’s efforts to rein in the fighters this year also have prompted complaints of brutality and civilian deaths.

“The government has increased its military presence in northern states and the capital and it’s clamping down, but this clamping down has also fueled tensions and I think the government needs to review its own actions to ensure its not exacerbating the situation any further,” said Comfort Ero, a Kenya-based analyst for the International Crisis Group.

FULL ARTICLE (Associated Press)

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8 Sep

Bombing in Abuja: On Nigeria’s Boko Haram

Comfort Ero, On the African Peacebuilding Agenda 

The declaration by Boko Haram that it carried out the bomb attacks against the United Nations headquarters in the heavily fortified diplomatic zone of Nigeria’s federal capital, Abuja, has propelled the group into the international arena. The attack on a principal international organisation marks a major departure from the group’s previous targets which have tended to be local, such as police units, churches, banks and bars, as well as assassinations against Muslim clerics who criticised their violent acts.

FULL ARTICLE

Photo: UN

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