The Nation Newspaper

Tag: boko haram

  • Boko Haram: ‘Long silence on botched ceasefire a disservice’

    Boko Haram: ‘Long silence on botched ceasefire a disservice’

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has said the long silence of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government over the phantom ceasefire with members of the Boko Haram insurgents reflects the character of an unserious and unaccountable government with no interest in the welfare of the Chibok girls.

    The council said that the long silence on the issue was a disservice to the Nigerian people, especially the families of the Chibok girls.

    The council, in a statement by the Director, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, expressed concern that since the collapse of the phantom ceasefire with the Boko Haram insurgents, the Jonathan administration has decided not to talk about it, pretending that the passage of time would automatically make the issue die a natural death.

     The statement said the Jonathan government got it wrong on the curious silence over the botched deal, adding that “a democratic government should be open and accountable to the people. Accountability is the dividing line between a dictatorship and a democratic government, but the Jonathan administration is behaving as if it owes Nigerians no explanations over the failed ceasefire deal.

  • Baga: Boko Haram killed woman in labour – Amnesty

    Boko Haram fighters killed a woman as she was in labour during what is feared to be the deadliest attack in the sect’s six-year insurgency, Amnesty International claimed on Thursday.

    The human rights group said one witness to the assault on Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad in northeast Nigeria, told them the woman was killed by indiscriminate fire that also cut down small children.

    “Half of the baby boy (was) out and she died like this,” the unnamed witness was quoted as saying.

    Amnesty said this week that hundreds of people, if not more, may have been killed in the attack, which began on January 3 and is thought to have targeted civilian vigilantes helping the military.

    “They killed so many people. I saw maybe around 100 killed at that time in Baga. I ran to the bush. As we were running, they were shooting and killing,” a man in his 50s said.

    Another woman added: “I don’t know how many but there were bodies everywhere we looked.”

    The testimony tallies with claims from local officials that huge numbers were killed and that of witnesses spoken to by AFP, who described seeing decomposing bodies littering the streets.

    One man who escaped from Baga after hiding for three days said he was “stepping on bodies” for five kilometres (three miles) as he fled through the bush.

    Nigeria’s military, which often downplays death tolls, said this week that 150 people died, dismissing as “sensational” claims that 2,000 may have lost their lives.

    Human Rights Watch said the exact death toll was unknown and in a statement published on Thursday quoted one local resident as saying: “No one stayed back to count the bodies.

    “We were all running to get out of town ahead of Boko Haram fighters who have since taken over the area.”

    Both Amnesty and HRW published separate satellite images of Baga and Doron Baga, 2.5 kilometres away, which it said showed the scale of the attack.

    Aerial shots of the two towns — which have been hit previously by fighting — were shown the day before insurgents moved in and four days later, after they had razed homes and businesses.

    Amnesty said that the images showed “devastation of catastrophic proportions,” with more than 3,700 structures — 620 in Baga and 3,100 in Doron Baga — damaged or completely destroyed.

    HRW said 11 percent of Baga and 57 percent of Doron Baga was destroyed, most likely by arson, attributing the greater damage in the latter to the fact that it houses a military base.

  • Boko Haram: Chad offers support to Cameroon

    Chad said on Wednesday it was ready to actively help Cameroon fight Boko Haram militants attacking it from Nigeria, and called on other countries in the region to translate pledges of support into concrete action.

    Chad’s offer comes days after an appeal by Cameroon’s President Paul Biya for international military help to fight the sect that has seized swathes of northern Nigeria and is threatening neighbours who share borders with the northeastern zones it currently occupies, Reuters says.

    Cameroon’s north is now regularly attacked by insurgents, who highlighted their regional threat this month by seizing a military base in Nigeria meant to be used by a joint force from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon to fight them.

    “Faced by this situation that seriously threatens the security and stability of Chad, the Chadian government will not sit here and do nothing,” government spokesman, Hassan Sylla Bakari, said in a statement on Wednesday.

    “The government expresses its solidarity with Cameroon and is ready to provide active support in the courageous and determined response of its armed forces against the criminals and terrorists of Boko Haram.”

    The statement did not give any detail on what form the support would take but it followed a visit to Chad by Cameroon’s defence minister on Wednesday.

    Cameroon has dispatched elite troops to its north, where militants have launched a series of raids and set up training camps. The government said it killed 143 militants in fighting on Monday.

    Military sources in Niger, to the west, said gunmen suspected to be from Boko Haram killed a civilian in the village of Gaidam Tchoukou, in Diffa region.

  • Several Boko Haram members killed in Biu

    …Military repels sect’s attack on town

    Nigerian security forces repelled an attack by Boko Haram insurgents on Biu, Borno State, on Wednesday, killing several of the insurgents, witnesses and a security source said.

    Several dozen fighters belonging to the Boko Haram sect drove into Biu in pick-up trucks and on motorcycles, witness Yahaya Mshelliza told Reuters by telephone.

    “They came shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greatest) and shooting everywhere, but confronted by the soldiers for three hours, most them were killed,” Mshelliza said.

    “At the moment only three escaped into the bush and are being pursued by the soldiers.”

    A security source confirmed the events but had no further details.

    Growing insecurity linked to sect is a major issue for President Goodluck Jonathan a month before polls in which he faces a rival, Muhammadu Buhari, who was seen as tough on security when he was a military ruler in the 1980s.

    The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what was the second attack on a major town by Boko Haram militants in the past two weeks.

     

  • Nigeria’s elections a factor in Boko Haram attacks – U.S

    Nigeria’s general election slated for next month is a factor behind the sharp increase in attacks by Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast paert of the country, the U.S State Department has said.

    Spokeswoman Marie Harf said, however, that the February 14 presidential election should go forward despite the violence, which the United Nations and human rights groups say has forced about 20,000 people to flee to neighboring countries in recent weeks.

    “There has been a sharp escalation in the number of reported casualties,” Reuters quoted Harf as saying at a daily briefing. “We do believe the election is a factor.”

    Harf said Boko Haram previously used events such as elections to stir up tensions. The election is expected to be a close contest between President Goodluck Jonathan and his leading challenger Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Boko Haram has tended to, particularly around something like an election, use political issues or sensitivities to try to enflame tensions,” she said. “We have seen that as one of their tactics and that is why it is so important to move forward with the election, because we believe it’s important.”

    Boko Haram’s insurgency began in 2009, but the number and scale of the attacks has risen sharply since last year after the government imposed emergency rule in three worst-hit states in the country.

    Amnesty International has said Boko Haram may have killed some 2,000 people around January 3 in Baga in northern Nigeria. But Harf said it was hard to independently verify that figure.

     

  • 143 Boko Haram fighters killed in Cameroon

    At least 143 Boko Haram fighters were killed in an attack on a military camp in Cameroon on Monday, a minister said, adding that it was the heaviest loss sustained by the sect in the country.

    “The terrorists lost 143 lives and important warfare equipment made up of assault rifles of various brands, heavy weapons and bullets of all calibres,” Minister of Communications, Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement.

    “On the Cameroon side, we lost one life, the Corporal-Chef Bela Onana, as well as four wounded.”

    It was not immediately possible to independently verify the toll from the fighting near the northern town of Kolofata.

    Cameroon’s army determines death tolls either visually, or by counting the number of vehicles it destroys and estimating how many militants each vehicle carried, a senior official in Cameroon’s Far North region told Reuters last month.

  • UN urges Nigeria to restore law and order, probe mass killings

    UN urges Nigeria to restore law and order, probe mass killings

    The United Nations called Nigeria on Tuesday to restore law and order in the northeast and investigate “mass killings” of civilians by Boko Haram insurgents.

    The military said on Monday that at least 150 people had been killed in clashes with insurgents in Baga, Borno State, but the UN human rights office noted that there were “wildly differing” accounts with some reports putting the toll this year at 2,000.

    “While the exact details remain unclear, what appears fairly certain is that mass killings and mass forced displacement have occurred,” Reuters quoted UN human rights spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, as saying at a news briefing in Geneva.

    “We urge the government to act swiftly to restore law and order while ensuring that security operations are conducted in line with international law and full respect for human rights.”

    The military is battling to reclaim Baga from insurgents, who want to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

    Boko Haram has killed thousands in a five-year rebellion which is seen as the biggest security threat to Africa’s top oil producer and is a headache for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of what is likely to be a closely fought vote on February 14.

    Opening his re-election campaign this month, he defended his record on fighting the insurgency.

    Some 11,320 Nigerian refugees have fled the violence by crossing into neighbouring Chad since the start of the year, the UN refugee agency said.

    “Some of them are stranded on an island on Lake Chad, called Kangala Island, there are about 2,000 of them there,” UNHCR spokesman, William Spindler, said, adding that the agency was transferring them to the Chad mainland.

  • Boko Haram to dominate regional security meeting —EU

    Boko Haram to dominate regional security meeting —EU

    The European Union has condemned the renewed terrorist attack in North Eastern Nigeria.

    The issue, according to EU  High Representative and Vice President Federica Mogherini will dominate next regional Security Conference to be held in Niamey on January 20.

    In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, Mogherini  said: “The renewed attacks in North Eastern Nigeria are another expression of terrorism targeting innocent people. They have led to the destruction of at least 16 villages and reportedly killed hundreds of people, displacing thousands.

    “The Boko Haram insurgency was discussed at the recent EU-Nigeria Ministerial Dialogue. It will also be addressed during the next regional Security Conference to be held in Niamey on 20 January.

    “The EU remains committed to providing a comprehensive range of political, development and humanitarian support to Nigeria and its people in tackling this threat and in ensuring the sound development of the country.”

  • Boko Haram to dominate region security meeting

    The European Union has condemned the renewed terrorist attack in Northeastern Nigeria.

    The issue, according to EU High Representative and Vice President, Federica Mogherini , will dominate next regional Security Conference to be held in Niamey on January 20.

    In a statement issued in Abuja Friday, Mogherini said, “the renewed attacks in Northeastern Nigeria are another expression of terrorism targeting innocent people. They have led to the destruction of at least 16 villages and reportedly killed hundreds of people, displacing thousands.

    “The Boko Haram insurgency was discussed at the recent EU-Nigeria Ministerial Dialogue. It will also be addressed during the next regional Security Conference to be held in Niamey on January 20.

    “The EU remains committed to providing a comprehensive range of political, development and humanitarian support to Nigeria and its people in tackling this threat and in ensuring the sound development of the country.”

  • Boko Haram kills dozens in fresh raids on Baga

    Boko Haram militants have killed dozens of people and burnt down homes in Baga town in the past two days, in a second killing spree since seizing control there at the weekend, witnesses told Reuters.

    Two locals said the insurgents began shooting indiscriminately and burning buildings on Tuesday evening in raids on the civilian population that carried on into Wednesday.

    “I escaped with my family in the car after seeing how Boko Haram was killing people. I saw bodies in the street. Children and women, some were crying for help,” Mohamed Bukar told Reuters after fleeing to Maiduguri, the state capital.

    The insurgency killed more than 10,000 people last year, according to a count by the Council on Foreign Relations in November.

    It is seen as the gravest threat to Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, and a headache for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of an election on February 14.

    Soldiers fled Baga over the weekend when the Sunni jihadist group overran a nearby army base.

    The district head of Baga, Abba Hassan, said on Thursday that at least 100 people were killed when the group first took over the town on the edge of Lake Chad.

    Abubakar Gulama, who escaped without his family to Monguno, 40 km (25 miles) away, said he crossed “many dead bodies on the ground” and that “the whole town was on fire.”

    Reuters TV footage showed scores of civilians waiting on sandy streets on the outskirts of Baga to catch buses out of town. Many carried the few possessions they had salvaged, such as bags of clothes and rolled up mattresses.