US turns to TV to tackle terror group

THE US is financing a new 24-hour satellite TV channel in northern Nigeria meant to counter insurgencies by the militant Boko Haram and other groups in the region, the New York Times has reported.

A US official confirmed the $6-million (R64-million) project was under way. The official said the US would “support Nigerian efforts to provide an attractive alternative to the messaging of violent extremists”.

The US has in recent months increased its collaboration with Lagos in response to violence from Boko Haram, including surveillance help after the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April.

The AU was involved in intensifying efforts to find the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram two months ago, its Ugandan ambassador said in New York.

Mull Katende said it was engaged in “quiet diplomacy, because some of this information, we don’t want it to reach those who abducted the children”.

“We look forward to their recovery as soon as possible and all heads of state of the African Union have offered their support,” he said after talks between AU and UN counterparts in New York.

Washington recently began surveillance drone flights over northeastern Nigeria to try to track down the kidnapped girls.

France has forces in Chad, and Britain and the US have sent small teams of specialists to Nigeria.—