Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Leaders set to tackle terror across Africa
‘Militants threaten security of region’
NIGERIAN President Goodluck Jonathan, facing a mounting extremist insurgency at home, was set to meet President Jacob Zuma and other African heads of state ahead of Zuma’s inauguration today to discuss ways of tackling militancy across the continent.
The meeting follows warnings from Nigeria and its neighbours that Boko Haram – which has killed thousands of Nigerians during its five-yearold insurgency, and last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls – now threatens the security of the region.
The leaders, said Jonathan’s spokesman Reuben Abati, were to focus in today’s meeting on “collective action to effectively roll back the scourge of terrorism in Africa”.
As well as Boko Haram, regional and world powers are increasingly worried about the growing reach of groups such as al- Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia’s alShabaab, which has attacked Uganda and Kenya and this week threatened to unleash teenage suicide bombers in Nairobi. Security experts say cross-border intelligence sharing between threatened countries is woefully weak.
Jonathan and the military have been criticised in Nigeria for the slowness of their reaction to the mass abduction, which took place in the remote village of Chibok.
Nigeria accepted help from the US, Britain, France and China last week, and about 80 US troops were arriving in Chad to start a mission to try to free the schoolgirls.
Boko Haram, which is fighting to set up an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks in recent weeks. Since the day of the abductions, at least 425 civilians have been killed.
A bomb blast at the edge of the capital Abuja killed 71 people on the same day of the kidnappings, on April 14, and eight more girls have since been snatched.
Boko Haram initially attacked mostly security forces and government officials.
But when Jonathan ordered a military offensive a year ago to flush them out, civilians formed vigilante groups to help out – and also became targets.
Suspected Boko Haram militants shot dead 29 farmworkers in the remote village of Chukku Nguddoa. A bomb blast in Jos killed 118 people on Tuesday, the deadliest single attack in the central city.
Nigerian protesters have taken to the streets and launched an online campaign to press authorities to do more to free the girls. But on Thursday Jonathan said: “We all must come together to fight terrorism… protests should be directed at the terrorists.”
Jonathan has referred to Boko Haram as “al-Qaeda in West Africa”.
Security officials say Boko Haram fighters have received training, arms and funding from both al-Shabaab and alQaeda’s wing in the Sahara, though they doubt links are extensive.
The governor of Borno state, Kassim Shettima, said Boko Haram had many foreign fighters, including Chadians and Cameroonians, but also Libyans.
“If you call them Nigeria’s al- Qaeda, you honour them. These guys are just plain raving lunatics,” Shettima said.
The UN Security Council committee on al-Qaeda sanctions blacklisted Boko Haram on Thursday. – Reuters. LEADING local Muslim organisations, rallying today in the city against Nigerian terror group Boko Haram, have denounced them as having “nothing to do with Islam”.
The Muslim Judicial Council ( MJC) and its affiliates joined the # BringBackOurGirls rally in the Company’s Garden early today in a bid to raise public awareness and support for a campaign calling for the release of 223 Nigerian schoolgirls that Boko Haram has held hostage since April 14.
Anita Christiaans, who organised the rally, contacted the MJC and others to gain signatures for a petition calling on the government to help Nigeria free the schoolgirls.
“We want our government to send troops to Nigeria and help find the girls. We need to stop terrorism in Africa,” said Christiaans.
“I’m a Christian and I’m doing this in my personal