New Boko Haram Atrocity (1 Viewer)

[msommer]

Let's not turn this into another Islam bashing thread. We could instead discuss what might be changed in Nigeria to improve conditions

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30728158

Boko Haram crisis: Nigeria's Baga town hit by new assault

Boko Haram controls large swathes of territory in north-eastern Nigeria
Bodies lay strewn on the streets of a key north-eastern Nigerian town following an assault by militant Islamists, officials have told the BBC.

The Boko Haram group attacked Baga town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base there on Saturday, they said.

Almost the entire town had been torched and the militants were now raiding nearby areas, they added.

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

'Rotting corpses'Nigerian lawmaker Maina Maaji Lawan said Boko Haram controlled 70% of Borno state, which is worst-affected by the insurgency.

Musa Alhaji Bukar, a senior government official in the area, said that fleeing residents told him that Baga, which had a population of about 10,000, was now "virtually non-existent".

"It has been burnt down," he told the BBC Hausa service.

Those who fled reported that they had been unable to bury the dead, and corpses littered the town's streets, he said.

Boko Haram was now in control of Baga and 16 neighbouring towns after the military retreated, Mr Bukar said.

While he raised fears that some 2,000 had been killed in the raids, other reports put the number in the hundreds.

Mr Lawan, the senator for northern Borno, called on government troops to stop "dilly-dallying" and to fight back to protect residents.

"The indiscriminate killings went on and on and on," he told BBC Focus on Africa.

Boko Haram's offensive continued on Thursday, with its fighters setting up checkpoints and killing people who were hiding in the bush, the senator said.

Fleeing residents spoke of the stench of rotting corpses on the streets and surrounding bushes, he said

Some 10,0000 people had fled to Chad since Saturday to escape the violence, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis, Mr Lawan said.

A large number reportedly drowned as they crossed Lake Chad.

Others are fleeing to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, in buses provided by the government, the senator said.

BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the crisis in north-eastern Nigeria is clearly deepening.

While President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election next month, has condemned the attack on a French satirical magazine in Paris as dastardly, he has not commented on the violence at home, our reporter says.

Government troops abandoned the military base in Baga on Saturday.

It hosts the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger, although only Nigerian soldiers were there at the time of the attack.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently promised to take on Boko Haram.

Mr Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two neighbouring states in 2013, vowing to defeat the militants.

However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and there are fears that many people in the north-east will not be able to vote in the general election because of the conflict.

 

[msommer]

Why Nigeria has not defeated Boko Haram (article from May 2014)

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27396702

Why Nigeria has not defeated Boko Haram By Andrew Walker Nigeria analyst

Exactly a year after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a "state of emergency" in north-eastern Nigeria, it seems to have had little effect in curbing the Islamist insurgency.

Attacks by the Boko Haram group that provoked the move included an assault on a military barracks, detonating a bomb at a bus station in the northern city of Kano and the kidnap of a French family, including four children, which grabbed the world's attention.

The declaration would bring "extraordinary measures" to bear against the insurgents in order to "restore normalcy" to the region, the president said.

"The troops have orders to carry out all necessary actions within the ambit of their rules of engagement to put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists," President Jonathan said.

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

The trouble with the Nigerian government is that they want a big red button, which you can press and it will fix everything”
James Hall Former British military attache to Nigeria

Now, after 12 months of state of emergency powers being in force, in the past few weeks Boko Haram has attacked several military bases, bombed a busy bus terminal in the capital, Abuja - twice - and launched an audacious kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok which has set the world on edge.

"When they declared it I thought it had to be tried," says Habeeb Pindiga, editor of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, "but honestly it has not succeeded."

In the year leading up to the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe state, there were 741 civilian death reported, according to data collected by the University of Sussex in the UK.

In the 12 months since the figure of civilian causalities has more than tripled to 2,265.

Catch-22Mr Pindiga says the military has not dealt with big problems it faces.

Because of the military's human rights record people do not trust them, plus they lack modern equipment, training and motivation.

A UK military officer who has worked closely with the Nigerians says they are stuck in a Catch-22 situation.

"The trouble with the Nigerian government is that they want a big red button, which you can press and it will fix everything," says James Hall, a retired colonel and former UK military attache to Nigeria.

"I was asked by a senior commander if we could sell them the machine that can tell if a car driving down the road contains a terrorist," he added.

"I tried to tell them that such a machine doesn't exist, but then they just thought we were hiding it from them."

The UK is very wary in giving training assistance, and sales of better equipment are also problematic, he says.

"We have reduced dramatically the types of training and equipment we're willing to provide."

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both criticised the Nigerian military for their tactics.

Amnesty reported that some 600 people were killed by the military after an attack on Maiduguri's Giwa barracks in March.

The sale of lethal weapons to Nigeria is prohibited by UK law because of such concerns.

"Without the training, they won't be able to get the equipment, and we aren't giving them the training either," Mr Hall said.

Conflict leads to exodus

Although Nigeria's military has enjoyed a good reputation internationally because of its involvement in several peacekeeping missions in Africa, it has not quite escaped the legacy of its past.

"What they say about former military regimes is true," Mr Hall said.

“Start Quote

People around the president, his closest allies, all tell him this Boko Haram is manufactured by the northerners to play politics”
Ledum Mitee Former activist in the Niger Delta

"They cripple their militaries so that there can't be further coups."

The Nigerian military rejects such criticism.

Speaking to the press on 7 May in Abuja, Brigadier-General Olajide Laleye told journalists that the military were doing what they could to stop the insurgency.

"Prosecuting large-scale counter-insurgency operations as well as numerous other operations in aid of civil authority in virtually every state of the federation has put pressure on the personnel and resources of the army," he said.

In a bid to improve morale, he was announcing soldiers' salaries would be paid to their families after their death for longer than currently allowed.

Payments usually stop a regulation three months after a soldier is killed, it was reported.

But observers say that there are other factors at work beyond just military capacity.

"There's a lack of trust all across the board, politically," says Ledum Mitee, a former activist from the oil-rich southern Niger Delta.

'Playing politics'He has followed closely the career of President Jonathan, who is also from the Niger Delta.

Jump media player
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Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.
BBC News examines the challenges facing Nigeria's president, in 60 seconds

At the moment, the political leadership of the three states in the north-east are aligned with the opposition All Progressive's Congress ( APC).

"People around the president, his closest allies, all tell him this Boko Haram is manufactured by the northerners to play politics," Mr Mitee says.

"This leads him to distance himself from the whole affair."

Military commanders on the ground also have to play politics, he said.

"If they give the impression it is a very bad situation, they risk being branded incompetent, so they give a less bad picture to their bosses."

Then when crisis erupts no-one is able to deal with it effectively because it is so confused, Mr Mitee said.

It is international pressure over the girls from Chibok that has forced the government to change.


It has allowed advisers from China, France, Israel the UK and the US to help its forces.

But their presence is likely to be limited to assisting the search for the kidnapped girls, and will not include a general role in improving the Nigerian military's capacity.

Even if they could, the job would be too big, Mr Hall thinks.

"It would take years of total engagement, training group after group to have any effect," he says.

"And no-one is really prepared to commit to that."

 

[CowboysFromHell]

Let's not turn this into another Islam bashing thread.

It is what it is.

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

 

[msommer]

Let's not turn this into another Islam bashing thread. We could instead discuss what might be changed in Nigeria to improve conditions

Maybe you should leave African issues to the Africans?

Ouch, that hurt... not.

At least this will be a thread void of your 'common sense'

 

[cstu]

While President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election next month, has condemned the attack on a French satirical magazine in Paris as dastardly, he has not commented on the violence at home, our reporter says.

Good luck getting help from the President.

 

[cstu]

"I was asked by a senior commander if we could sell them the machine that can tell if a car driving down the road contains a terrorist," he added.

"I tried to tell them that such a machine doesn't exist, but then they just thought we were hiding it from them."

 

[T Bell]

It's unfortunate that the French mess is overshadowing this so much. This sounds awful.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/boko-haram-deadliest-massacre-baga-nigeria

I'd really like to see Nigeria and Cameroon hire some private mercenaries to combat Boko Haram. I think they'd be highly effective.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Letters I've written,
Never meaning to send.

 

[StrikeS2k]

It's all the West's fault!!

 

[msommer]

It's all the West's fault!!

I didn't think you of all people would agree with Boko Haram...

Personally I think it's moreto do with the internal division in Nigeria, 'rich' south, poor north, but that's just me.

 

[shader]

It's unfortunate that the French mess is overshadowing this so much. This sounds awful.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/boko-haram-deadliest-massacre-baga-nigeria

I'd really like to see Nigeria and Cameroon hire some private mercenaries to combat Boko Haram. I think they'd be highly effective.

If it's true that 2,000 people died, it's amazing that France is taking away so much attention from this. What a tragedy.

 

[T Bell]

It's unfortunate that the French mess is overshadowing this so much. This sounds awful.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/boko-haram-deadliest-massacre-baga-nigeria

I'd really like to see Nigeria and Cameroon hire some private mercenaries to combat Boko Haram. I think they'd be highly effective.

If it's true that 2,000 people died, it's amazing that France is taking away so much attention from this. What a tragedy.

It shows you the power of the media. Backwater brown people living in a crap village in North Bum#### Nigeria have no chance in a competition for airtime with the City of Light.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Letters I've written,

Never meaning to send.

Moody Blues ...but why, but why?

 

[(HULK)]

If they had oil we'd be paying more attention to this IMO.

Shame

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Let's not turn this into another Islam bashing thread. We could instead discuss what might be changed in Nigeria to improve conditions

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30728158

Boko Haram crisis: Nigeria's Baga town hit by new assaultBoko Haram controls large swathes of territory in north-eastern Nigeria
Bodies lay strewn on the streets of a key north-eastern Nigerian town following an assault by militant Islamists, officials have told the BBC.

The Boko Haram group attacked Baga town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base there on Saturday, they said.

Almost the entire town had been torched and the militants were now raiding nearby areas, they added.

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

'Rotting corpses'Nigerian lawmaker Maina Maaji Lawan said Boko Haram controlled 70% of Borno state, which is worst-affected by the insurgency.

Musa Alhaji Bukar, a senior government official in the area, said that fleeing residents told him that Baga, which had a population of about 10,000, was now "virtually non-existent".

"It has been burnt down," he told the BBC Hausa service.

Those who fled reported that they had been unable to bury the dead, and corpses littered the town's streets, he said.
Boko Haram was now in control of Baga and 16 neighbouring towns after the military retreated, Mr Bukar said.

While he raised fears that some 2,000 had been killed in the raids, other reports put the number in the hundreds.

Mr Lawan, the senator for northern Borno, called on government troops to stop "dilly-dallying" and to fight back to protect residents.

"The indiscriminate killings went on and on and on," he told BBC Focus on Africa.

Boko Haram's offensive continued on Thursday, with its fighters setting up checkpoints and killing people who were hiding in the bush, the senator said.

Fleeing residents spoke of the stench of rotting corpses on the streets and surrounding bushes, he said

Some 10,0000 people had fled to Chad since Saturday to escape the violence, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis, Mr Lawan said.

A large number reportedly drowned as they crossed Lake Chad.

Others are fleeing to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, in buses provided by the government, the senator said.

BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the crisis in north-eastern Nigeria is clearly deepening.

While President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election next month, has condemned the attack on a French satirical magazine in Paris as dastardly, he has not commented on the violence at home, our reporter says.
Government troops abandoned the military base in Baga on Saturday.

It hosts the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger, although only Nigerian soldiers were there at the time of the attack.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently promised to take on Boko Haram.

Mr Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two neighbouring states in 2013, vowing to defeat the militants.

However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and there are fears that many people in the north-east will not be able to vote in the general election because of the conflict.

Ok let's summarize this headline:

AN ISIS-LIKE ISLAMIC STATE IS BEING ESTABLISHED IN NORTHEAST NIGERIA.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Borno has lost 2 million of 4.5 million since 1995.

The islamic state that BH would create, to begin with, includes Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, with a population of around 10 million. My guess is they would also like to get into Niger and Cameroon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borno_State

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamawa_State

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yobe_State

 

[msommer]

It's unfortunate that the French mess is overshadowing this so much. This sounds awful.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/boko-haram-deadliest-massacre-baga-nigeria

I'd really like to see Nigeria and Cameroon hire some private mercenaries to combat Boko Haram. I think they'd be highly effective.

If it's true that 2,000 people died, it's amazing that France is taking away so much attention from this. What a tragedy.

It shows you the power of the media. Backwater brown people living in a crap village in North Bum#### Nigeria have no chance in a competition for airtime with the City of Light.

Not exactly news either. Remember the genocide in Rwanda. The shelling of the 'safe' enclaves in former Yugoslavia got more press than the thousands and thousands hacked to death with machetes in a countrywide tribal killing spree

 

[msommer]

Let's not turn this into another Islam bashing thread. We could instead discuss what might be changed in Nigeria to improve conditions

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30728158

Boko Haram crisis: Nigeria's Baga town hit by new assaultBoko Haram controls large swathes of territory in north-eastern Nigeria
Bodies lay strewn on the streets of a key north-eastern Nigerian town following an assault by militant Islamists, officials have told the BBC.

The Boko Haram group attacked Baga town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base there on Saturday, they said.

Almost the entire town had been torched and the militants were now raiding nearby areas, they added.

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

'Rotting corpses'Nigerian lawmaker Maina Maaji Lawan said Boko Haram controlled 70% of Borno state, which is worst-affected by the insurgency.

Musa Alhaji Bukar, a senior government official in the area, said that fleeing residents told him that Baga, which had a population of about 10,000, was now "virtually non-existent".

"It has been burnt down," he told the BBC Hausa service.

Those who fled reported that they had been unable to bury the dead, and corpses littered the town's streets, he said.
Boko Haram was now in control of Baga and 16 neighbouring towns after the military retreated, Mr Bukar said.

While he raised fears that some 2,000 had been killed in the raids, other reports put the number in the hundreds.

Mr Lawan, the senator for northern Borno, called on government troops to stop "dilly-dallying" and to fight back to protect residents.

"The indiscriminate killings went on and on and on," he told BBC Focus on Africa.

Boko Haram's offensive continued on Thursday, with its fighters setting up checkpoints and killing people who were hiding in the bush, the senator said.

Fleeing residents spoke of the stench of rotting corpses on the streets and surrounding bushes, he said

Some 10,0000 people had fled to Chad since Saturday to escape the violence, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis, Mr Lawan said.

A large number reportedly drowned as they crossed Lake Chad.

Others are fleeing to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, in buses provided by the government, the senator said.

BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the crisis in north-eastern Nigeria is clearly deepening.

While President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election next month, has condemned the attack on a French satirical magazine in Paris as dastardly, he has not commented on the violence at home, our reporter says.
Government troops abandoned the military base in Baga on Saturday.

It hosts the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger, although only Nigerian soldiers were there at the time of the attack.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently promised to take on Boko Haram.

Mr Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two neighbouring states in 2013, vowing to defeat the militants.

However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and there are fears that many people in the north-east will not be able to vote in the general election because of the conflict.

Ok let's summarize this headline:

AN ISIS-LIKE ISLAMIC STATE IS BEING ESTABLISHED IN NORTHEAST NIGERIA.

Sub headline: The President of Nigeria doesn't seem to care

 

[msommer]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30761963

Nigeria: 'Girl bomber' kills 19 people in Maiduguri marketAt least 19 people have been killed and several injured by a bomb strapped to a girl reported to be aged about 10 in north-eastern Nigeria, police say.

The bomb exploded in a market in the city of Maiduguri, in Borno state.

"The explosive devices were wrapped around her body," a police source told Reuters.

No group has said it carried out the attack. The market is reported to have been targeted twice in a week by female bombers late last year.

Correspondents say that all the signs point to the militant Islamist Boko Haram group.

They have been fighting to establish an Islamic caliphate in the north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which have borne the worst violence in their five year insurgency.

Borno State police spokesman Gideon Jubrin said that the girl bomber let off an improvised explosive device near the area of the Maiduguri market where chickens were sold.

The BBC's Abdulahi Kaura in Lagos says that this will not be the first suicide bombing involving young girls, part of a new militant strategy intended to capitalise on the fact that people in the Muslim-dominated north are less suspicious of women.

In other violence reported on Saturday a vehicle in Yobe state exploded at a checkpoint near a police station, killing at least two people.

The blast follows heavy fighting in the Yobe state capital Damaturu on Friday night, with buildings destroyed and civilian casualties reported.

Hundreds of people were killed on Wednesday in an assault by Boko Haram on the town of Baga, following on their seizure of a key military base there on 3 January,

Scores of bodies from that attack - described by Amnesty International as possibly the "deadliest massacre" in the history of Boko Haram - are reported to remain strewn in the bush.

District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims in the Baga attack were children, women or elderly people who were not able to escape when insurgents forced their way into the town by firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

Boko Haram has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria over the past year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

 

[otello]

Let's not turn this into another Islam bashing thread. We could instead discuss what might be changed in Nigeria to improve conditions

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30728158

Boko Haram crisis: Nigeria's Baga town hit by new assaultBoko Haram controls large swathes of territory in north-eastern Nigeria
Bodies lay strewn on the streets of a key north-eastern Nigerian town following an assault by militant Islamists, officials have told the BBC.

The Boko Haram group attacked Baga town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base there on Saturday, they said.

Almost the entire town had been torched and the militants were now raiding nearby areas, they added.

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

'Rotting corpses'Nigerian lawmaker Maina Maaji Lawan said Boko Haram controlled 70% of Borno state, which is worst-affected by the insurgency.

Musa Alhaji Bukar, a senior government official in the area, said that fleeing residents told him that Baga, which had a population of about 10,000, was now "virtually non-existent".

"It has been burnt down," he told the BBC Hausa service.



Those who fled reported that they had been unable to bury the dead, and corpses littered the town's streets, he said.

Boko Haram was now in control of Baga and 16 neighbouring towns after the military retreated, Mr Bukar said.

While he raised fears that some 2,000 had been killed in the raids, other reports put the number in the hundreds.

Mr Lawan, the senator for northern Borno, called on government troops to stop "dilly-dallying" and to fight back to protect residents.

"The indiscriminate killings went on and on and on," he told BBC Focus on Africa.

Boko Haram's offensive continued on Thursday, with its fighters setting up checkpoints and killing people who were hiding in the bush, the senator said.

Fleeing residents spoke of the stench of rotting corpses on the streets and surrounding bushes, he said

Some 10,0000 people had fled to Chad since Saturday to escape the violence, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis, Mr Lawan said.

A large number reportedly drowned as they crossed Lake Chad.

Others are fleeing to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, in buses provided by the government, the senator said.

BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the crisis in north-eastern Nigeria is clearly deepening.


While President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election next month, has condemned the attack on a French satirical magazine in Paris as dastardly, he has not commented on the violence at home, our reporter says.

Government troops abandoned the military base in Baga on Saturday.

It hosts the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger, although only Nigerian soldiers were there at the time of the attack.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently promised to take on Boko Haram.

Mr Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two neighbouring states in 2013, vowing to defeat the militants.

However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and there are fears that many people in the north-east will not be able to vote in the general election because of the conflict.

Per Wikipedia:

Boko Haram ("Western education is forbidden"), officially called Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad ("People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad"), is a militant and self-professed Islamist movement based in northeast Nigeria with additional activities in Chad, Niger and Cameroon.[4] The group is led by Abubakar Shekau and membership has been estimated to number between a few hundred and a few thousand. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and the United Nations Security Council, which declared it an al-Qaeda affiliate and imposed the al-Qaeda sanctions regime on the group.[4][5][6]

Boko Haram killed more than 5,000 civilians between July 2009 and June 2014, including at least 2,000 in the first half of 2014, in attacks occurring mainly in northeast, northcentral and central states of Nigeria.[7][8][9] Corruption in the security services and human rights abuses committed by them have hampered efforts to counter the unrest.[10][11] Since 2009 Boko Haram have abducted more than 500 men,[12][13]women and children, including the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014.[14] 650,000 people had fled the conflict zone by August 2014, an increase of 200,000 since May; by the end of the year 1.5 million had fled.[15][16]

After its founding in 2002, Boko Haram's increasing radicalisation led to a violent uprising in July 2009 in which its leader was executed. Its unexpected resurgence, following a mass prison break in September 2010, was accompanied by increasingly sophisticated attacks, initially against soft targets, and progressing in 2011 to include suicide bombings on police buildings and the United Nations office in Abuja. The government's establishment of a state of emergency at the beginning of 2012, extended in the following year to cover the entire northeast of the country, resulted in a marked increase in both security force abuses and militant attacks. The Nigerian military proved ineffective in countering the insurgency, hampered by an entrenched culture of official corruption. Since mid-2014, the militants have been in control of swathes of territory in and around their home state of Borno, but have not captured the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri, where the group was originally based.

As of January 2015 Boko Haram controlled towns and villages across about 20,000 sq.miles, an area the size of Belgium, in the states of Borno and Yobe.[17]

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30761963

Nigeria: 'Girl bomber' kills 19 people in Maiduguri marketAt least 19 people have been killed and several injured by a bomb strapped to a girl reported to be aged about 10 in north-eastern Nigeria, police say.

The bomb exploded in a market in the city of Maiduguri, in Borno state.

"The explosive devices were wrapped around her body," a police source told Reuters.

No group has said it carried out the attack. The market is reported to have been targeted twice in a week by female bombers late last year.

Correspondents say that all the signs point to the militant Islamist Boko Haram group.

They have been fighting to establish an Islamic caliphate in the north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which have borne the worst violence in their five year insurgency.

Borno State police spokesman Gideon Jubrin said that the girl bomber let off an improvised explosive device near the area of the Maiduguri market where chickens were sold.

The BBC's Abdulahi Kaura in Lagos says that this will not be the first suicide bombing involving young girls, part of a new militant strategy intended to capitalise on the fact that people in the Muslim-dominated north are less suspicious of women.

In other violence reported on Saturday a vehicle in Yobe state exploded at a checkpoint near a police station, killing at least two people.

The blast follows heavy fighting in the Yobe state capital Damaturu on Friday night, with buildings destroyed and civilian casualties reported.

Hundreds of people were killed on Wednesday in an assault by Boko Haram on the town of Baga, following on their seizure of a key military base there on 3 January,

Scores of bodies from that attack - described by Amnesty International as possibly the "deadliest massacre" in the history of Boko Haram - are reported to remain strewn in the bush.

District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims in the Baga attack were children, women or elderly people who were not able to escape when insurgents forced their way into the town by firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

Boko Haram has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria over the past year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

Used a 10 year old girl, probably she had no idea what she was doing. Barbaric.

- Btw about your previous point of the government abandoning the area, apparently security was being provided by a "vigilante group", which I take to mean a local citizens group or militia had to be formed because the army had bugged out.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

New day, new atrocity, but the body count in and around Baga is now almost as high as the attacks of 9/11/01 - possibly ~2000 killed in six day slaughter in Nigeria:

Massacre Survivors Say Boko Haram Slaughtered Civilians 'Like Insects'

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Survivors of an assault by Islamic militants that killed a large number of civilians in Nigeria have described days of relentless violence in which, one witness said, some people were slaughtered "like insects."

The accounts were given by villagers who fled the carnage in and around Baga, a town in Borno state that lies in the northeastern corner of Nigeria near the border with Chad. The killing unfolded over several days after Boko Haram fighters seized a key military base there on Jan. 3.

Amnesty International has said there are reports that the death toll could be as high as 2,000, though some witnesses cite lower tolls in the hundreds.

Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, a military spokesman, said Monday that the evidence available so far indicates a death toll of no more than 150, including insurgents killed in combat with troops. The military has said 14 soldiers were killed and 30 were wounded in the Baga attack, and that it was making a plan to restore "law, order and normalcy" to the area.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon as well as the United States and other countries have condemned the Baga bloodshed, which highlights the increasingly brazen tactics of an insurgent movement in Nigeria's northeast as well as the inability of Nigerian forces to respond effectively. President Goodluck Jonathan is running for re-election in Feb. 14 elections, but it is uncertain how voting can proceed in areas under Boko Haram's sway.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the U.S. still was trying to get information from the ground on reported atrocities.

She said Nigeria needed to move forward with "credible and peaceful elections" despite the attacks, but acknowledged it would be difficult.

"Boko Haram is a huge threat," Harf said. She said the U.S. was trying to work with Nigeria despite the government's termination in November of a third phase of a training operation involving a Nigerian army battalion.

She also condemned "horrific reports today of young girls being used to conduct suicide attacks."

Boko Haram is suspected of using a 10-year-old girl to detonate a bomb at a market in Maiduguri on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and seriously injuring others. The bomb exploded after explosives were found under the girl's clothing during a search, according to witness accounts.

Insurgents have also been implicated in deadly bombings in Potiskum in northern Yobe state, which is adjacent to Borno. One bomb targeted a police building.

One survivor of the Baga violence, Ibrahim Gambo, estimated that more than 500 people may have died and said he did not know what happened to his wife and daughter. The 25-year-old truck driver said he was part of a civilian militia that, bolstered by a belief that its fighters were protected from bullets by a magical charm, initially had success in resisting Boko Haram insurgents.

But the army told his militia group to pull back so a military plane could attack Boko Haram forces, which then surrounded Baga when the plane didn't arrive, Gambo said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"It is sad that our fortification charm became ineffective once we showed fear," Gambo said.

"As we were running for our lives, we came across many corpses; both men and women, and even children," he said. Some had gunshot wounds in the head and some had their legs bound and hands tied behind their backs, he said.

Yahaya Takakumi, a 55-year-old farmer, told Nigeria's Premium Times that he escaped from Baga with one of his wives, but does not know the whereabouts of four of his children, his second wife and his elder brother.

"We saw dead bodies especially, on the islands of Lake Chad where fishermen had settled," the newspaper quoted Takakumi as saying. "Several persons were killed there like insects."

Boko Haram fighters opened fire on vessels carrying fleeing residents, Takakumi said. He and other survivors fled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Nigeria's home-grown Boko Haram group drew international condemnation when its fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in northeast Chibok town last year. Dozens escaped but 219 remain missing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/12/boko-haram-survivors_n_6456452.html

The Nigerian government's insistence on denying what's going on there is puzzling, they seem to be essentially throwing in the towel and abandoning their own people and territory while at the same time claiming nothing ultr-huge is going on. Maybe they're afraid of foreign intervention.

 

[Two Deep]

It seems like there is always some atrocity taking place on the continent of Africa. It also seems like where these atrocities take place their governing powers have major corruption problems.

 

[Fat Nick]

It seems like there is always some atrocity taking place on the continent of Africa. It also seems like where these atrocities take place their governing powers have major corruption problems.

I think this is what happens when you live on a continent where 95% of the continent is impoverished. The people don't follow "right or wrong," they follow whomever can put food on their tables. I honestly can't blame some of the followers of Boko Haram. I don't like what they do (obviously), but I'm not in the shoes of a starving West African. If someone came to you and basically said, you can continue to live your life, scrounge for food, and probably starve, OR, you can roll with us. We shoot people, but we'll make sure we steal enough food that you and your family are fed, I could see why some people would make that choice. It's probably even worse b/c I doubt they're giving you the first option of living your life.

Africa always seems to have these ebs and flows of warlords and corrupt governments. The governments are inept, which leads to starving citizens. Starving citizens turn to violence. Violence is more effective when it organizes. Someone leads the "organization." That leader gains power. The government gets worried...not because its citizens are starving, but more because if they are overthrown, they'll probably be killed. As the warlord and his band of rebels gets stronger, the government is less and less likely to resist. Eventually, without outside intervention, the warlord becomes the new government...repeat.

It's sad. It's probably the worst part of the world to live in. I'd imagine that there are things that happen over there daily that people here in the developed world couldn't fathom.

 

[Clifford]

It's all the West's fault!!

I didn't think you of all people would agree with Boko Haram...

Personally I think it's moreto do with the internal division in Nigeria, 'rich' south, poor north, but that's just me.

So the new thing is take something like Boko Haram, whose name means "Western Education is a Sin" or "Western Education is a Forbidden" and to ignore the fact that their entire ethos is based on militant Islamism and instead try and attribute what they say and do to some Western construct like income inequality?

Cause it certainly seems like the new thing.

 

[joffer]

the difference in news coverage between this and the attacks in France is disturbing.

 

[msommer]

It's all the West's fault!!

I didn't think you of all people would agree with Boko Haram...

Personally I think it's moreto do with the internal division in Nigeria, 'rich' south, poor north, but that's just me.

So the new thing is take something like Boko Haram, whose name means "Western Education is a Sin" or "Western Education is a Forbidden" and to ignore the fact that their entire ethos is based on militant Islamism and instead try and attribute what they say and do to some Western construct like income inequality?

Cause it certainly seems like the new thing.

What do you think created the environment in Nigeria where a group like Boko Haram can thrive?

 

[Clifford]

The spread of Islamic jihad throughout the mideast for the past 30 years

 

[msommer]

The spread of Islamic jihad throughout the mideast for the past 30 years

Please explain, in your own words, why a Boko Haram-like organization is not active in Morocco

 

[Clifford]

Hasn't happened yet I guess?

 

[Clifford]

Ok my turn: what is the stated goal of Boko Haram, according to them?

 

[Two Deep]

It seems like there is always some atrocity taking place on the continent of Africa. It also seems like where these atrocities take place their governing powers have major corruption problems.

I think this is what happens when you live on a continent where 95% of the continent is impoverished. The people don't follow "right or wrong," they follow whomever can put food on their tables. I honestly can't blame some of the followers of Boko Haram. I don't like what they do (obviously), but I'm not in the shoes of a starving West African. If someone came to you and basically said, you can continue to live your life, scrounge for food, and probably starve, OR, you can roll with us. We shoot people, but we'll make sure we steal enough food that you and your family are fed, I could see why some people would make that choice. It's probably even worse b/c I doubt they're giving you the first option of living your life.

Africa always seems to have these ebs and flows of warlords and corrupt governments. The governments are inept, which leads to starving citizens. Starving citizens turn to violence. Violence is more effective when it organizes. Someone leads the "organization." That leader gains power. The government gets worried...not because its citizens are starving, but more because if they are overthrown, they'll probably be killed. As the warlord and his band of rebels gets stronger, the government is less and less likely to resist. Eventually, without outside intervention, the warlord becomes the new government...repeat.

It's sad. It's probably the worst part of the world to live in. I'd imagine that there are things that happen over there daily that people here in the developed world couldn't fathom.

This thread can end with Nicks post.

 

[Rayderr]

It's unfortunate that the French mess is overshadowing this so much. This sounds awful.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/boko-haram-deadliest-massacre-baga-nigeria

I'd really like to see Nigeria and Cameroon hire some private mercenaries to combat Boko Haram. I think they'd be highly effective.

Along those lines....

Link

 

[joffer]

from the West Wing:

Archbishop Zake Kintaka: Patrick, you may pray all you wish, but thousands upon thousands of African children will die unless the U.S. intervenes. Tens of thousands of Kundunese children and their parents slaughtered.

Cardinal: Well, I don't control the armed forces Zake.

President Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet: No he was talking to me, Your Eminence. Your Excellency, I got a very sketchy intelligence report on the violence in the capital about an hour ago.

Archbishop Zake Kintaka: The violence isn't limited to Batang sir, it has spread to the countryside.

President Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet: I didn't know that.

Archbishop Zake Kintaka: May I ask you something, sir, with all due respect.

President Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet: Yes.

Archbishop Zake Kintaka: If mass genocide had broken out in a small European country, would your intelligence briefing this morning have been quite so "sketchy"?

President Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet: No.

 

[BustedKnuckles]

So when does the American world wide police dept get involved?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

So when does the American world wide police dept get involved?

Any comparisons to Darfur? I distinctly recall Obama saying during the 2008 foreign policy presidential debate that if he had a Darfur under his presidency that that is the kind of "moral" crisis that he would consider intervening in (as opposed to Iraq which of course had no moral issues associated with it).

 

[Two Deep]

So when does the American world wide police dept get involved?

The drones are probably fueling up as we speak.

 

[Clifford]

Honestly I think at this point we should have an on-call army for taking out these small, ultraviolent groups like Boko Haram and ISIS. No nation building, just treat it like a global Terminex group. A nest pops up somewhere in the world, we descend on it with a coalition from every member of the UN automatically and with massive hardware and troops.

Boko Haram is a prime candidate. The Nigerian government will never do anything. Just find a way to identify them and keep killing them until you can't find them anymore. Then when they show up again in three years wipe them out again. Global whack-a-mole for sure but at least they would know that forming such a group gets them slaughtered.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

This is all pretty close to N'Djamena, capital of Chad by the way.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Honestly I think at this point we should have an on-call army for taking out these small, ultraviolent groups like Boko Haram and ISIS. No nation building, just treat it like a global Terminex group. A nest pops up somewhere in the world, we descend on it with a coalition from every member of the UN automatically and with massive hardware and troops.

Boko Haram is a prime candidate. The Nigerian government will never do anything. Just find a way to identify them and keep killing them until you can't find them anymore. Then when they show up again in three years wipe them out again. Global whack-a-mole for sure but at least they would know that forming such a group gets them slaughtered.

OBAMA: ... And the strains that have been placed on our alliances around the world and the respect that's been diminished over the last eight years has constrained us being able to act on something like the genocide in Darfur, because we don't have the resources or the allies to do everything that we should be doing.

That's going to change when I'm president, but we can't change it unless we fundamentally change Sen. McCain's and George Bush's foreign policy. It has not worked for America.

BROKAW: Sen. Obama, let me ask you if -- let's see if we can establish tonight the Obama doctrine and the McCain doctrine for the use of United States combat forces in situations where there's a humanitarian crisis, but it does not affect our national security.

Take the Congo, where 4.5 million people have died since 1998, or take Rwanda in the earlier dreadful days, or Somalia.

What is the Obama doctrine for use of force that the United States would send when we don't have national security issues at stake?

OBAMA: Well, we may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake.

If we could have intervened effectively in the Holocaust, who among us would say that we had a moral obligation not to go in?

If we could've stopped Rwanda, surely, if we had the ability, that would be something that we would have to strongly consider and act.

So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us.

OBAMA: And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible.

But understand that there's a lot of cruelty around the world. We're not going to be able to be everywhere all the time. That's why it's so important for us to be able to work in concert with our allies.

Let's take the example of Darfur just for a moment. Right now there's a peacekeeping force that has been set up and we have African Union troops in Darfur to stop a genocide that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

We could be providing logistical support, setting up a no-fly zone at relatively little cost to us, but we can only do it if we can help mobilize the international community and lead. And that's what I intend to do when I'm president.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/post.html

So that's what the President said he was going to do.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Just what the truth is
I can't say anymore.

 

[saintfool]

the nigerian gov't runs hot and cold about handling this. they seem to be treating this as an internal issue rather than calling in for a multinational force. the Nigerian gov't wants us to sell them guns and attack helicopters on the cheap. the US has been a little more cautious and wary because of the inconsistencies within the nigerian gov't. they were happy to have our training forces there in 2014 but we were asked to end the mission in December by the Nigerians. this most recent event might get both the state dept and nigeria's gov't talking again.

 

[Clifford]

I don't think we should even worry about what the Nigerian government wants or wants us to do. Obviously they are completely inept and likely in league with Boko to some extent.

Let's just take the attitude that when something like this happens we just have to stamp it out.

 

[Fat Nick]

I don't think we should even worry about what the Nigerian government wants or wants us to do. Obviously they are completely inept and likely in league with Boko to some extent.

Let's just take the attitude that when something like this happens we just have to stamp it out.

Not saying I disagree, but this is a really slippery slope. At what point do you cross the line from peace keeper to global police force?

As soon as you start making statements like the above and using those as justification to force international intervention on a nation that may or may not want it, you really open the door to a lot of things, not all of which are good.

It's one thing if Nigeria said, "Please! Help! We need help." But if they aren't open to asking for help, even if they are incompetent, should we intervene? How is this different than essentially declaring war on the Nigerian government? You're basically disregarding them as inept and disregarding their wishes. What gives one nation the power to deem another nation's government inept? By that logic, Kim Jong Un would have authority to attack the US under the guise of "peace keeping" and saving us from a government they view as inept.

 

[Clifford]

Yeah I gotcha. Maybe too far reaching.

 

[Spock]

We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more

 

[BustedKnuckles]

so many atrocities go on around us daily ,its impossible to keep up

 

[Clifford]

Well, what if it was like

Global Terminex Team Lead: Mr. President of Nigeria? We've detected a homicidal/genocidal infestation in your country called Boko Haram. We'd like to send in our task force immediately to wipe out the infestation. Is that ok?

Nigerian President: Oh no, we can handle it internally...

GTTL: Ok, we are going to be monitoring your progress of wiping out the infestation. When do you expect to have it 50% eradicated?

check, if nothing has been done send in task force...

Too simple I guess

 

[Christo]

If they had oil we'd be paying more attention to this IMO.

Shame

Your opinion is not based upon fact. Nigeria is the 10th largest oil producer in the world and Africa's largest oil exporter.

 

[comfortably numb]

Cameroon kicking boko butt

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/content/cameroon-army-kills-143-boko-haram-fighters