Politics

Nigeria's outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan tells the UN that his country does not need the help of an international force to fight the Boko Haram Takfiri militants.  Jonathan said in a Thursday statement that he wanted the world body to focus instead on assisting those affected by the Boko Haram militancy.  The outgoing leader made the comments after meeting with the UN special representatives for West and Central Africa.

Jonathan said the UN involvement should not be based on military enforcement, but regional promotion of security. The Nigerian military has in recent months regained most of the towns seized by the militants in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe with the backing of some regional countries, the statement added.  The army has also "commenced a final push to take the last stronghold of militants in Sambisa Forest" in Borno state, it noted.

The latest developments come as Nigeria has resisted a strong UN Security Council mandate to deploy an international force against Boko Haram. However, Abuja has welcomed joint efforts by a united regional front to fight militancy. Chad, Niger and Cameroon have already launched a joint major air and ground operation against Boko Haram militants as part of a regional push to end the militant group's violence.

Meanwhile, the UN special representative for West Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told Jonathan that the UN team was visiting the countries affected by the Boko Haram militancy. He also reaffirmed the UN's readiness to support the ongoing efforts by Nigeria and its neighbors to end the ongoing violence.

The developments come as a recent report by the UK-based rights group, Amnesty International, has shed new light on the brutal methods used by Boko Haram, including mass kidnappings, cataloging the frequent abduction of young women and girls, gang rapes as well as the forced recruitment of men and boys.

Nigeria has been grappling with the rising threat of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group since 2009. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” controls parts of northeastern Nigeria and says its goal is to overthrow the government. The terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shootings and bombings in various parts of Nigeria, which have left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced over the past few years. Boko Haram recently declared allegiance to the ISIL Takfiri group, which is perpetrating heinous crimes against humanity in areas under its control in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Apr.2015

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(Reuters) - Boko Haram militants have slit the throats of 12 people in northeast Nigeria as the army was trying to evacuate civilians from the area, a military source and a witness said on Friday.

The Islamist group has been driven out of much of the huge swathe of territory they controlled at the start of the year, thanks to a concerted push by troops from Nigeria and neighbours Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

The town of Gwoza, in mountainous terrain, was one of the last places to fall, on March 27, and there remain pockets of Boko Haram activity in the area, security sources say.

"Just as troops were trying to evacuate some civilians from the hills so as to safeguard them from a planned air strike ... some Boko Haram attacked them and slit the throats of 12 people," a military source said of Wednesday's attack.

A witness, Jonas Musa, told Reuters his parents were both among the victims. He said soldiers had moved one wave of people from the hills around Gwoza, but before they could go back for the second, the attackers struck.

Failure to crush Boko Haram or protect civilians was one reason President Goodluck Jonathan lost an election on March 28 to Muhammadu Buhari. Boko Haram, fighting to establish an Islamic state, has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds during its six-year-old insurgency in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer.

Buhari has pledged to spare no effort in crushing the militants after he is sworn in on May 29. He said on Tuesday he would do everything he can to rescue more than 200 girls abducted by the group a year ago from a school in the village of Chibok, but that he could not promise to find them.

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Ngwa Bertrand

14.Apr.2015

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How do you vaccinate women and children against polio in remote areas prey to attack from Boko Haram militants? Arm the soldiers with vaccine.

This is exactly what has happened with great success in northern Cameroon.

Following a series of abductions last year by Boko Haram groups, military escorts have been joining vaccination drives in Cameroon’s Far North Region to protect both local and international humanitarian workers.

In addition to acting as a security presence, officers, who normally patrol the frontlines and at-risk border communities, are also trained to administer polio vaccines – a tactic UNICEF says has been key to the successful campaign.

It allowed children in even the most dangerous areas to be vaccinated, as well as refugees the moment their families crossed the border.

“It is our role to protect the population and prevent them from whatever danger, including health threats,” a Cameroonian commander, who wished to remain anonymous, told IRIN. “So we are simply adding more value to the work that we are already doing.”

Military personnel also engaged with community leaders and radio stations to spread word of the importance of the vaccinations.

“In my locality, I make sure that my people get excited and look for the vaccinators,” said a chief called Lamido from Guidiguis in far northern Cameroon.

Turning the corner after 18 months

As a result of the military involvement, the polio vaccination drive in the Far North Region has surpassed this year’s goals in spite of the challenges posed by Boko Haram and the massive influx of refugees from Nigeria.

The latest campaign, which took place 27-29 March, reached 1.4 million children under the age of five – nearly 100,000 more than initially targeted, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“Despite the security challenges, polio vaccination campaigns have been registering better results over the past months as a result of increased military presence and [military] participation in the vaccination process,” said regional health ministry official Flaubert Danbe.

Recent progress comes after more than 18 difficult months trying to contain polio, which broke out again in Cameroon in October 2013.

At least 13 previous immunization campaigns were at least partially thwarted by Boko Haram-related violence, or resistance from refugees from neighbouring Nigeria, where polio is endemic.

In 2014, childhood immunization rates in Cameroon stood at just 60 percent, according to the Ministry of Health – a figure well below the 90 percent minimum needed to eradicate the disease.

Cameroon has had no new cases of polio in more than six months and was downgraded from a polio-exporting country on 31 March, but the World Health Organization (WHO) still considers it to be at “high risk” due to the challenges in administering the vaccination and the ongoing refugee problem.

The number of Nigerian children not vaccinated against polio increased from 778,000 in November 2014 to 1.1 million in January 2015, according to UNICEF. Just one cross-border case could restart an outbreak in Cameroon, authorities say.

Overcoming the challenges

Immunization campaigns in the region have been plagued by insecurity since the beginning of 2014, when Boko Haram began to extend its attacks from Nigeria into Cameroon.

At least nine of the 30 health districts in the Far North Region have been affected, with women and children the ones most likely to miss out.

“Access to health care systems by the local population is difficult as some clinics have been closed as a result of the [insecurity],” UNICEF’s Antoine Ntapli told IRIN.

The influx of Nigerian refugees into northern Cameroon has also put a strain on local health care services, which are not well enough equipped or staffed to handle large caseloads. Many local health workers have fled the area, further straining already limited resources.

“The exodus of Nigerian refugees across communities and the internal displacement of the population are among the challenges… coupled with the inaccessibility of population still living in risky areas,” Ntapli said.

More than 74,000 Nigerians have taken refuge in Cameroon due to Boko Haram attacks, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Eastern Cameroon is also host to the largest number of refugees from the Central African Republic – around 200,000 people, according to the latest figures from UNHCR.

An estimated 117,000 Cameroonians living in border communities have also been displaced within the country’s Far North Region, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says.

This constant movement of people makes administering the vaccination to children particularly difficult. The oral vaccine requires three two-drop doses, usually given four weeks apart, in order to be fully effective. As people flee one attack to the next, it is challenging for health workers to keep track of their whereabouts and follow up on the booster doses.

Cultural resistance from Nigerian refugees

For Nigerian newcomers not vaccinated upon arrival in Cameroon, campaigns are conducted on a near constant basis in the refugee camps.

“The vaccination of the displaced is an ongoing process and vaccines must be available to be given to every new arrival,” Ntapli said.

Each refugee who enters a camp is vaccinated against both polio and yellow fever, among other diseases.

But polio vaccination has faced strong resistance within conservative Islamic communities in northern Nigeria due to a deep distrust of the West, persistent rumours that the vaccine is harmful, and the house-to-house approach taken by immunization campaigners, which many see as intrusive.

Garba Dauda, a vaccination agent at the Minawao refugee camp, said many Nigerians there originate from places where polio immunization has a bad name.

“Some refugees used to oppose vaccination at first, but we have managed [with education campaigns] to change people’s mentality and now they are more receptive,” Dauda said.

UNICEF and Cameroon’s health ministry say they now plan to extend this type of vaccination campaign to the east of the country.

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Ngwa Bertrand

14.Apr.2015

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(BBC)More than 50 of the girls abducted by militant Islamists in Nigeria last year were seen alive three weeks ago, a woman has told the BBC.

She saw the girls in the north-eastern Gwoza town before the Boko Haram militants were driven out of there by regional forces.

Boko Haram sparked global outrage when it seized more than 219 girls from Chibok town a year ago.

The US, China and other foreign powers promised to help find the girls.

However, the girls have never been traced, and little has been heard of them since they were taken from their boarding school.

The whereabouts of the remaining girls is not clear.

'Big house'

Campaign group Bring Back Our Girls organised a silent march in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Wednesday to raise public awareness about the abductions.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has said the girls have been converted to Islam and married off, fuelling concern that the militants had treated them as war booty and sex-slaves.

Mr Shekau has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), which is also notorious for carrying out abductions in Iraq and Syria.

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Ngwa Bertrand

13.Apr.2015

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Central and West African leaders will hold a summit Wednesday to fine tune their campaign to crush Boko Haram, who appear to be losing ground in the face of a regional military offensive.

The April 8 talks will be the first since Nigeria’s election a week ago, which was won by Muhammadu Buhari, a former military leader who has vowed to rid his country of the “terror” the Islamist militants have sown.

Boko Haram, whose rampage through northeastern Nigeria has left more than 15,000 people dead since 2009, is the region’s most pressing security problem, having sent refugees fleeing across borders and displaced tens of thousands within Nigeria.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS said in a statement Sunday that the meeting in the Equatorial Guinea capital Malabo came “in the face of the mounting and increasingly bloody attacks by the fundamentalists against Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.”

The Malabo summit is being jointly organized by ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

Experts from both groups held preliminary meetings in Cameroon’s economic capital Douala to prepare ground for the summit, ECOWAS said.

They tried to fine tune strategy to “eradicate” the group, the statement added, and discussed regional coordination of military strategy and other matters.

Buhari’s historic election win was partly due to departing President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure to tackle the insurgency, which has sparked worldwide concern.

“I assure you that Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will and commitment to rid this nation of terror and bring back peace,” Buhari said last week.

He later told the BBC: “With the cooperation of our neighbors, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and the international community, and the commitment we are going to get from the military, I think it will take us a much shorter time to deal with them.”

A coalition involving troops from the four countries has been battling the Islamists in a bid to crush the insurgency, which has now spread across borders from Boko Haram’s stronghold in northern Nigeria.

The general staff of the Chadian army last week said the nuisance capacity of Boko Haram has been severely reduced by the offensive, although their Nigerien colleagues believe the group still has the ability to wage an “asymmetric war” through suicide attacks and hit-and-run raids.

According to some experts, a major stumbling block in the fight against the group had hitherto been poor intelligence sharing between Nigeria and its neighbors, although this appears to have improved after a joint military force involving the four countries was launched.

It was not immediately clear if Buhari would be attending the summit, as he will not be sworn in as president to succeed Jonathan until May 29.

U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein last week led an appeal for stronger international support in the fight against the group after the U.N. Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a resolution to this effect.

“Countless more children, women and men have been abducted, abused and forcibly recruited, and women and girls have been targeted for particularly horrific abuse, including sexual enslavement,” Zeid said.

“This despicable and wanton carnage, which constitutes a clear and urgent menace for development, peace and security, must be stopped,” Zeid said.

The group recently pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State group of jihadis fighting in Iraq and Syria.

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Ngwa Bertrand

06.Apr.2015

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(Reuters)Islamist Boko Haram militants disguised as preachers killed at least 24 people and wounded several others in an attack near a mosque in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, a military source and witness said on Monday.

The attackers arrived in cars late on Sunday and gathered people at a mosque in the remote village of Kwajafa, pretending to preach Islam. They then opened fire on them, witness Simeon Buba said.

The group's six-year insurgency, and President Goodluck Jonathan's failure to end it or protect civilians, were factors in the victory of opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari in last week's election.

The group fighting for an Islamic state has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds, although a military operation against them by Nigeria and neighbors Chad, Cameroon and Niger in the past two months has wrested back much of the territory it controlled.

"People didn't know the Boko Haram men came for attack because they lied to our people that they came for preaching," said Buba in a telephone conversation.

"They opened fire on them and killed many people," he said, adding that houses were set on fire.

Some people were being treated for gunshot wounds and burns at a hospital in the Borno state town of Biu on Monday, a source there said.

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Ngwa Bertrand

06.Apr.2015

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