Nigeria showcases aircraft to monitor crime-infested waters

Nigeria's military on Tuesday took the wraps off a new aircraft to tackle high-seas pirates off the country's coast, as well as maritime hijackers and oil thieves.

The high-tech plane is one of seven to be operated by the state-run Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Air Force.

 

It includes sensors, radar and Electro-Optic Surveillance and Tracking (EOST) equipment, which houses three cameras to monitor ships in Nigerian waters, said Sergeant Sunday Olalekan Omotosho.

 

"When fully operational, no vessel can escape our coverage," he told reporters before a demonstration flight from Lagos to Escravos in the Niger Delta and over offshore platforms in the oil-producing southeast.

 

The 20-seat plane can fly as low as 200 feet (60 metres) above the sea and passes on information about maritime traffic to the navy, who can intervene with fast-attack craft if necessary, he added.

 

"Our aim is to fight all manner of maritime crimes in the country. With this aircraft, we can spot any vessel hundreds of kilometres (miles) away," said Air Group Captain Enobong Eneh Effiom.

 

The aircraft is inscribed with the words: "Vigilance over the ocean."

 

Piracy off the western coast of Africa has been rising in recent years, with attackers targeting ships playing a key role in the region's thriving oil industry.

 

Early this month, global maritime watchdog the International Maritime Bureau said West African piracy made up 19 percent of attacks worldwide last year.

 

Nigerian pirates accounted for 31 of the region's 51 attacks -- the most since 2008.

Nigeria - Trying To Deal With The Devil

The Nigerian government admits that they have people talking to Boko Haram leaders, but don’t know when, if ever, any results will be achieved or announced. Boko Haram leadership does not appear to control all groups operating as “Boko Haram” and many Boko Haram want victory (a religious dictatorship for all of Nigeria) or death. Boko Haram gunmen continue to operate in the northeast terrorizing the rural population. Boko Haram is still able to operate in the cities, but at a much lower level than before May, when the army began a major offensive against the Islamic terror group. Some local leaders (tribal, religious and elected) are trying to work with Boko Haram but that is proving difficult because Boko Haram is dominated by religious fanatics and leaders who are quick to feud with each other. This sort of internal bickering means that Boko Haram has little staying power, but for the next year or two it will remain a factor in northern politics. Boko Haram has already lost much local support because of its seeming random violence. While Boko Haram tries to spare local Moslems and go after only infidels (non-Moslems) enough Moslems get killed and suffer the economic losses to make Boko Haram less a savior and more of a curse for most northerners. Boko Haram won’t go away until the angry, and usually unemployed and uneducated young men who provide the new recruits get turned off. That hasn’t happened yet.

 

October 18, 2013: A major oil pipeline was repaired and restored 150,000 barrels a day of oil exports. This pipeline had been shut down five times in the last three months because of oil thieves and deliberate efforts to shut it down. The local tribes, angry at the government for stealing most of the oil income (little of that money gets back to where the oil is produced) blame the foreign oil companies that handle production. The foreigners are used because a Nigerian run firm would be crippled by corruption and not very productive. But the foreign firms depend on Nigerian police and troops for security and the Nigerians have not been able to prevent the damage. Corruption also reaches into the foreign oil companies with employees (usually locals) taking bribes to assist oil thieves. Nigeria is considered a very difficult and unprofitable place to operate oil fields and the foreign firms are always on the verge of leaving and some have already done so. What keeps some in Nigeria is access to offshore oil fields, which have far fewer security and vandalism problems. 

Despite increased scrutiny by the navy and police, pirate attacks are running at about 3-4 a week compared to 2-3 a week last year. A quarter of these attacks are major and involve kidnapping or cargo theft or both as well as the usual taking cash and portable property from the crew and ship. The pirates are operating off the Nigerian coast (the Gulf of Guinea) and in some of the major rivers and estuaries. The pirates are becoming more thorough in stripping a ship of valuable portable items and even kidnapping ship’s officers and taking them to hideouts ashore to be held for ransom. The gangs are apparently advised by expert fences on what equipment to look for because some of these

expensive shipboard electronics are showing up for sale in other parts of the world. The fences often ship the stuff out of Africa or sell it via the Internet to get a better price. As a result the pirates are gaining more money per ship raided and that persuades more land-based gangs to give piracy a try.

 

There are plenty of tankers and other merchant ships in the Gulf of Guinea and not all are paying attention to warnings about improving their security. While the Somali pirates could gain larger ransoms (sometimes over $10 million per ship) they have not been able to grab a ship in over a year because of more aggressive naval patrols and tighter security on the big ships. That has not happened on the west coast, and the gangs are happy if they can net several hundred thousand dollars in loot (including cargo transferred at sea to a pirate owned freighter or tanker) and ransoms per ship raided.

 

The shipping companies have to pay higher insurance premiums and deal with lower crew morale and are now incurring higher operating costs because of the need for better security. All these additional costs are passed on the countries adjacent to the Gulf of Guinea in the form of higher shipping rates.

  

Oil theft also remains a major problem about 150,000 barrels a day taken. About a quarter of that is now converted to kerosene in crude improvised refineries out in the bush. The refinery process used is dangerous for the operators and leaves a lot of pollution behind. These improvised refineries cost less than $5,000 to set up, employ 15-20 people and generate over $7,000 a month in profit. So the operators don’t mind if a lot of them are found by the security forces and destroyed.

  

Nine of the 37 states have adopted Islamic (sharia) law and try, with different degrees of success to enforce it. All nine sharia states are in the north and attempts to enforce lifestyle interpretations of sharia are unpopular. One example is a recent effort in Kano state to prohibit men who work in public from wearing shorts and tight sleeveless shirts. Some clerics consider this immodest and un-Islamic but in Kano police are going to try and force men to dress in a correct Islamic style.

  

October 13, 2013: In the north (Borno state) the army reported that it repulsed Boko Haram attacks against three towns (Bama, Gwoza and Pulka) and killed at least 40 of the terrorists. Outside Bama troops disabled a truck loaded with explosives which was apparently to be used by a suicide bomber.

  

October 9, 2013: In the north (Kano state) police raided and destroyed a Boko Haram bomb workshop. In nearby Adamawa state some fifty Boko Haram attacked a village and killed eight people but fled before the soldiers showed up.

 

October 8, 2013: In central Nigeria (Plateau state) tribal violence left over 16 dead when Fulani cattle thieves raided a village, killed ten civilians and were in turn attacked by police who killed six of the fleeting Fulani. The victims of these raids are often Christian farmers while the Fulani, who tend herds of cattle and are usually Moslem, are often the attackers. The Christian farmers and Moslem herders constantly argue over land and water.

Nigeria - Boko Haram War Moves To The Border

In northeastern Borno and Yobe states young men have formed a pro-government militia called the “Civilian JTF (Joint Task Force, after the military organization of the same name)” to provide security against Boko Haram and provide information to the security forces about who Boko Haram members are and where they are living. In response Boko Haram openly declared war on Civilian JTF members and threatened to come to their homes and kill them. Most Civilian JTF members cover their faces while assisting the security forces. While this threat certainly terrified some Civilian JTF members (who generally have no firearms), the leadership publicly defied the Boko Haram threats. 

The Civilian JTF often operate with heavily armed police or soldiers nearby (ready to move in arrest Boko Haram suspects the vigilantes identify or fire back if Boko Haram attack). The army has begun to use the volunteers to replace troops at checkpoints. There are still some armed soldiers nearby, in case Boko Haram tries to attack the civilians, but this new policy has enabled more checkpoints to be set up and more through searches of vehicles to be conducted. This makes it more difficult for Boko Haram to move around, plan and carry out attacks or to resupply the few men they still have in the cities.

 

Most of the people in the northeast are fed up with Boko Haram, even though they agree with the anti-corruption/clean government goals of the group. What has turned most people off are the terrorist tactics, which kill an increasing number of innocents. At the same time, the government has had some success in getting the army to restrain it troops, who often practiced what amounted to terrorism (random violence) against civilians perceived as hostile (or possibly hostile or simply uncooperative). Boko Haram is still a major threat, but the recent army pressure has forced the terrorists to scatter and spend a lot of time and effort regrouping, rather than making terror attacks in urban areas. The army will have to ease up on the curfews and numerous roadblocks soon, or the three northeastern states will suffer economic collapse and widespread hunger. 
 
Boko Haram temporarily took control of two towns (Bama and Gwoza) near the Cameroon border. Christians and government workers were given a week to get out after the Islamic terrorists arrived last week. The two towns are being looted by the Boko Haram men, who still maintain camps in the nearby hills. A month ago Boko Haram was chased out of its urban and suburban bases in the northeast by an army offensive. Several hundred Boko Haram members who avoided arrest or getting killed then set up operations in the mountain forests along the Cameroon border. This has included raiding villages in the thinly populated region, stealing cattle and anything else they could use. When they encountered Christian churches they burned them down and killed any clergy they found. The terrorists have moved deep into the mountains, set up camps and got in touch with Boko Haram camps known to exist across the border in Cameroon. The army visited some of the raided villages and is searching for the new Boko Haram camps. There are not enough troops to be everywhere and at all times along the border and this gave the Islamic terrorists the opportunity to spend a week plundering Bama and Gwoza. A month of Boko Haram violence along the border have sent several thousand people from their homes and fleeing, often for over a hundred kilometers, to Maiduguri. There are still some armed Boko Haram members in the cities, especially Maiduguri. There they are sheltered by family or sympathetic civilians and are difficult to root out. 
 
Recent army operations along the Cameroon border have found several camps, including one containing the computers and video cameras apparently used by Boko Haram to produce the videos they post on the Internet. Several of the camps contained vehicles, weapons and bomb making equipment. The Boko Haram men usually detected the approaching troops and fled on foot carrying what they could. The vehicles were too easy to spot from the air, so if the army had helicopters or aircraft overhead, or the vehicle routes were blocked the Islamic terrorists would abandon their vehicles. These sweeps have led to some arrests, including several wanted Boko Haram leaders.  
 
A government investigation into Boko Haram has concluded that about 8o percent of the members are from the Kanuri tribe. This ethnic group contains about four million people, with three million living in northeastern Nigeria and the rest in Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The leader of Boko Haram (Abubakar Shekau) is believed to be a Niger Kanuri, not Nigerian as was earlier thought. The Kanuri have lived in the region (centered on the city of Maiduguri in Borno State) for over 3,000 years. At times during this period the Kanuri had their own kingdom, but most of the time they were ruled by some stronger tribe as part of a local empire. Kanuri separatist movements generally died out after Nigeria became independent half a century ago. 
 
The Boko Haram men chased out of the urban areas (where they preferred to make attacks, to ensure maximum publicity) are still carrying out terrorist activities in rural areas where they have set up operations. Schools and Christians in the countryside are now being hit. There are not a lot of attacks, because there aren’t many Boko Haram out in the thinly populated countryside. But eventually news of these attacks makes its way back to the mass media and get publicized more widely. 
 
The government admitted that nearly half the 75 people prosecuted for terrorism in the last two years were not convicted. Most of those who escaped conviction did so because their fellow terrorists raided the prison they were in and freed the suspects before their trial could be concluded. These raids are still a major problem despite improved security around prisons and moving Boko Haram prisoners out of the north to Christian areas in the south. 
 
In the Niger River delta police arrested 473 oil thieves in the first half of the year. So far 32 have been convicted. Over two million liters (over half a million gallons) of oil and refined products (usually kerosene) were recovered and four small refineries were seized and destroyed. It is feared that the police are concentrating on small operators, as the larger oil theft and refining operations operate with the protection of senior government, police and military officials.
 
June 27, 2013: In central Nigeria (Plateau State) several days of violence between Christian and Moslem tribes has left at least 32 dead. This outburst was about cattle stealing and retaliatory attacks.
June 21, 2013: Northeastern Borno state announced it would hire several hundred armed security guards for primary and secondary schools to provide some protection against Boko Haram attacks. 
 
June 20, 2013: The military has banned the use of satellite phones in the three northeastern states currently under martial law. Boko Haram uses a lot of the cash it gets from extortion, kidnapping and robbery to buy and use the expensive satellite phones. These can be monitored, but by using code words they can still be useful. The new ban will not shut off the satellite phones in the northeast, but does make it illegal to sell them or the additional minutes needed to make them work. Boko Haram will now have to wait longer and pay more to have the phones and minutes cards smuggled in from Cameroon. Meanwhile the military will seize any satellite phones it finds in the northeast. Legitimate owners will eventually get them back.

Warplanes, troops in northeast Nigeria; mobile phones cut

Cellphone service was cut off Thursday in areas of northeast Nigeria as jet fighters streaked through the sky and more soldiers were deployed to fight Islamic extremists waging a brutal insurgency.

Witnesses saw low-flying Nigerian jet fighters over Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, which President Goodluck Jonathan placed under emergency rule on Tuesday along with Borno and Yobe states. But soldiers have met “no resistance” yet from extremists who have taken over villages and small towns in this region approaching the Sahara Desert, a military spokesman said.

An Associated Press journalist in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, has found cellphone services unavailable since early Thursday morning on all of the country’s major mobile phone carriers. Mobile phone numbers belonging to government officials and military officials there and in neighboring Yobe state could not be reached.

Mobile phones have become the only real communication device in Nigeria for both voice calls and the Internet, as the state-run telephone company collapsed years ago. By cutting off service at towers, the military could stop extremists from receiving warnings or intelligence ahead of their operations. Authorities said they had no information about the service cutoff or refused to comment.

Nigeria’s military and security forces have tracked fighters by their cellphone signals in the past as well, prompting extremists from the radical Islamic network known as Boko Haram to attack mobile phone towers in the region.

Under the president’s directive, soldiers have ultimate control over security matters in the three states, though his order allows civilian governments to remain in place. Over the past few days, witnesses and AP journalists have seen convoys of soldiers in trucks and buses moving through the region, as well as trucks carrying armored personnel carriers.

Nigeria’s military has promised a “massive deployment of men and resources” but has declined to specify the numbers involved.

Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, a military spokesman based in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, said more soldiers were en route to the region Thursday. Any assaults by ground forces also could be backed up by attack helicopters and jet fighter bombings, Gen. Olukolade said, though soldiers have yet to have a serious firefight with insurgents.

“The progress has been met with no resistance,” Gen. Olukolade told The Associated Press.

This new military campaign comes on top of a previous massive deployment of soldiers and police to the region. That deployment failed to stop violence by Islamic extremists, who have killed more than 1,600 people since 2010, according to an AP count.

Nigeria’s military has said Islamic fighters now use anti-aircraft guns mounted on trucks to fight the nation’s soldiers, raising the possibility that the country’s already overstretched security forces are becoming outgunned.

With some soldiers sent to assist in the French-led anti-jihadist operation in Mali and others serving elsewhere in Nigeria dealing with other security challenges, the 76,000-man force is creaking under the pressure, said John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria.

“While the Islamist insurgents do not offer a viable political alternative and remain divided among themselves, the threat they pose to Nigeria’s political and economic future are significant, as Jonathan’s state of emergency recognizes,” Mr. Campbell wrote in an analysis published Wednesday by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Soldiers now will try to control an arid region of some 60,000 square miles, with powers to arrest anyone and take over any building.

Those powers also have led to worries about the military abusing and potentially killing civilians, which has happened repeatedly in the past and during the country’s current struggle with the Islamic insurgents.

Asked about what soldiers would do to prevent the death of civilians, Gen. Olukolade said the troops had been “fully briefed” on the rules of engagement, without offering any other details.

In Adamawa state on Thursday, the military announced a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew across the entire state. Life otherwise was calm, though heavily armed soldiers had taken over for police officers on the streets of the state capital, searching vehicles and questioning drivers.

But mobile phones remained without service for some in the region as Thursday night fell. Gen. Olukolade said that extremists might have sabotaged the lines. When asked whether the military or government could have ordered the lines to be turned off, the general said he “wasn’t aware of that.”

Reuben Mouka, a spokesman for the Nigerian Communications Commission, which oversees mobile phone carriers in Africa’s most populous nation, said he did not know about the services being cut off.

Funmilayo Omogbenigun, a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s dominant carrier, South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd., would only say, “No comment,” when asked if the government told her company to turn off service in the area.

Emeka Oparah, a spokesman for Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s operation in Nigeria, said he had no immediate information about the service outtage.

Army begins offensive against Boko Haram, raids Sambisa camp

Nigeria has begun an offensive against Boko Haram Islamists, raiding camps in a remote northeastern park, while more than 2,000 troops have been deployed to retake territory seized by the insurgents, a military source told AFP Thursday. “Our men raided some terrorist camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve,” in Borno state, said the senior officer who requested anonymity. “So far 2,000 troops have been deployed to Borno,” he added, declining to comment on the forces sent to the other affected states of Yobe and Adamawa.

Nigeria - We Know Where Your Family Lives

Boko Haram is making a major effort to get more cash via extortion, kidnapping and theft. The money is spent on weapons easily smuggled across the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the north. Weapons are cheap at the moment, because of stolen government stuff still arriving from Libya and al Qaeda Islamic terrorists fleeing Mali eager to unload weapons they got out with for cash so they can seek sanctuary somewhere. Boko Haram still has plenty of new recruits, as increased army and police activity in the north, in addition to Boko Haram attacks, has done a lot of economic damage and increased the unemployment rate. Both Boko Haram and the security forces are fighting a dirty war. Boko Haram deliberately hunts down and kills government officials (especially local police, prison staff, border guards and the like). Soldiers and police are quick to pick anyone suspected (often with very little evidence) of being a member of Boko Haram or a sympathizer and later killing them.

 

More armed members enable Boko Haram to enforce more of their lifestyle rules. For example, in Borno state Boko Haram has, so far this year, forced the closure of 30 percent of the secular schools in the state. Boko Haram has gone from setting fire to schools at night to attacking them during the day and murdering teachers. 

 

The government continues to have financial problems. The main source of cash for the government is oil royalties. But violence, corruption and theft have cut oil production in the Niger River Delta some 30 percent in the last eight years and the decline continues. 

 

May 15, 2013: Another 2,000 soldiers have been sent to the northern city of Maiduguri, which has long been the center of Boko Haram strength. More roadblocks are being established and more raids conducted in neighborhoods suspected of harboring Boko Haram. The problem is that most police and soldiers still use the same old tactics of rounding up young men and killing them because they might be Boko Haram members. This just angers more northerners and makes it easier for Boko Haram to recruit.

 

May 14, 2013: The government declared a state of emergency in the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. This is a form of martial law and makes it even easier for the security forces to do whatever they want. The state of emergency also allows the federal government to temporarily replace elected and appointed government officials. The three states affected are where most Boko Haram violence has been taking place. 

 

In central Nigeria (Kaduna and Benue states) continued violence between Christians and Moslems left at least 23 dead.

 

May 13, 2013: Boko Haram admitted that it is now deliberately kidnapping the wives and children of government officials (from jail guards to senior officials) to either force cooperation or just to obtain lots of cash. With this tactic Boko Haram hopes to eventually be able to use the threat of kidnapping to force judges, prosecutors and security force commanders to back off from going after the Islamic terrorists. Kidnapping, especially when families of corrupt officials are attacked is popular with most Nigerians as these thieves always seem to be able to buy their way out of prosecution for their crimes. 

 

May 12, 2013: Boko Haram kidnapped the wife and daughter of a Supreme Court judge. This took place in southern Edo State (Benin City). The same judge had a son kidnapped last September and paid $190,000 to get him freed.

Pirates release five Polish, Russian crew taken from ship off Nigeria

Pirates have released five Polish and Russian crew members they kidnapped from a cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria last month, the vessel's management company said.

Piracy is increasing in the west Africa's Gulf of Guinea, an important exporting region for oil, cocoa and metals, and insecurity is driving up shipping costs.

The hostages were taken when the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged MV City of Xiamen container ship was attacked late on April 25 about 100 miles off Nigeria's coast, Reuters reports.

"Despite difficult conditions while in captivity, they are in good health. They already returned to their own countries and reunited with their families," Sunship Schiffahrtskontor KG, the ship's German operator, said in a statement.

The firm did not say if a ransom was paid but this has been the case in the past.

The International Maritime Bureau had said 14 heavily armed pirates attacked the container ship, breaching its citadel - a strong room designed to protect the crew from attack.

Naval patrols and the presence of armed guards aboard merchant vessels have helped reduce piracy off Somalia on Africa's eastern coast but international navies are not engaged in counter-piracy missions off Nigeria.
 

Nigeria - Northern Frights

In the last month Boko Haram violence in the north has left nearly 300 dead. More worrisome is that some of these attacks involved over a hundred armed men using what appeared to be military tactics and more discipline than the terrorists have demonstrated before. There has been some training going on, and a lot of recruiting. The army has responded by being more violent to local civilians.

 

The war against Islamic terrorists (Boko Haram) in the north is not going well. The problem is with the security forces, which operate outside the law while trying to enforce it. The army and police, when faced with a major emergency (like the Boko Haram terror tactics) will react by arresting and torturing lots of people (especially young men, the most likely Boko Haram recruits), often killing them and denying what had been done. While Westerners act horrified at such behavior, that sort of thing did not largely disappear from the West until the last century or two. When a Nigerian joins the police or army they tend to accept the “traditional” way of doing things. But there are good reasons why many such traditions have been replaced. Indiscriminate torture and murder is not the most efficient way to deal with an outbreak of Islamic terrorism. Many senior government officials understand this, but getting the security forces to change these deadly customs has been very difficult (as have efforts to root out corruption in the army and police.) Meanwhile the security forces are murdering several hundred civilians a month with these brutal and indiscriminate tactics. 

 

Another problem with the Islamic terrorism is that it is largely confined to the Moslem north, where the economy and education levels are not as advanced as in the Christian south. The combination of ethnic and religious differences, in addition to the southerners having been in contact with the West longer, has left the north less educated and less able to deal with modern technological society. Thus the appeal of Boko Haram (whose name means, literally, “Western education is unholy”) for many of the tribes in the north. 

 

There are over 200 tribes in Nigerian, which adds another level of complexity for any government. While most of the tribes belong to half a dozen ethnically related coalitions, all consider themselves culturally different. Thus some tribes are very eager for Western education, economic progress and honest government. Other tribes swing in the opposite direction. Local politicians succeed in part by getting to know how each tribe in their area operates and making the most of that knowledge. Boko Haram is exploiting the Islamic conservatism (or fanaticism) of many northern tribes, as well as xenophobia (fear of outsiders) that is common in the north. 

 

While Islamic terrorists are difficult to find, oil thieves and their collaborators are easier to spot. The oil theft does not just take place in the Niger Delta (where the oil fields are) but throughout the country. There are other pipelines that carry refined product (especially diesel), and these are being plundered. The refined product is more profitable as you can sell it locally. This is risky as you have to drive around in tanker trucks, always one unexpected encounter with the police away from prison or worse. Sometimes the cops will take a bribe and sometimes they will kill you and steal your stolen oil.

May 7, 2013: In the northeastern town of Bama some 200 Boko Haram gunmen attacked the police station and a nearby prison. Some one hundred prisoners were released, most of them Boko Haram men. Over a hundred people died, about 40 of them police, soldiers and prison staff. 

 

In central Nigeria (Nasarawa state) a tribal militia ambushed a police convoy that was seeking to arrest members of the militia that had been forcing locals to join them. At least twenty policemen were killed. 

 

May 5, 2013: In the north (Adamawa state) Boko Haram was believed behind an attack on a Christian village, which left six dead in a local market and four dead in a nearby church. 

 

May 3, 2013: In central Nigeria (Taraba state) at least thirty people died when fighting broke out between Christians and Moslems. The trigger was the funeral procession that went through a Moslem neighborhood and some of the young men saw this as a provocation and attacked the Christian mourners. The violence escalated until enough police could show up to calm things down.

Nigerian Islamist raid in northeast town kills 55 - military

MAIDUGURI - Suspected members of the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram raided the northeastern town of Bama on Tuesday, leaving 55 people dead, the military said on Tuesday.

Boko Haram gunmen killed 22 police officers, 14 prison officials, two soldiers and four civilians, while 13 of the group's own members died, military spokesman Sagir Musa told Reuters.

Gunmen freed 105 prison members during the raid which began at around 5 a.m. (0400 GMT) and lasted almost five hours, Musa said. Bama's police station, military barracks and government buildings were burned to the ground, a Reuters witness saw.

Bama is a small, remote town in northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram first launched an uprising in 2009.

The Boko Haram sect and offshoots such as the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru, as well as associated criminal networks, pose the main threat to stability in Africa's top energy producer.

Western governments are increasingly concerned about Nigerian militants linking up with other jihadist groups in the West African region.

Boko Haram wants to carve out an Islamic state in a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. One of its chief demands is that its imprisoned members and family members are released and it has carried out several prison breaks.

Violence in Nigeria's north has shown no signs of letting up. Clashes between Islamists and a multinational force from Nigeria, Niger and Chad killed dozens of people last month.

A senator who visited the site said 228 people were killed, but the military puts the figure at 37.

More Mercenary Su-25s Slip Into Africa

Back in February the African country of Niger received its first jet combat aircraft in the form of two Su-25s. These were received from Ukraine, which has a lot of Cold War surplus weapons and refurbished these two ground attack aircraft. It is believed that Ukraine also supplied pilots and ground crews, at least until some Niger personnel could be trained to do the work. Niger is very poor and until the two Su-25s arrived had no combat aircraft at all and only about a hundred personnel and 12 transport and reconnaissance aircraft in its air force. France or the United States may have provided the money for the two Su-25s, which could be essential in dealing with the large number of Islamic terrorists operating next door in Mali or Nigeria. This is not the first time Su-25s have been supplied this way. Back in 2004 Ivory Coast for two Su-25s in a similar deal, but made the mistake of using them against some French peacekeepers. The French Air Force promptly responded by attacking the Su-25s on the ground and destroying them.

 

The Su-25 was designed to attack ground targets, not other aircraft. It is a 17 ton aircraft that carries a 30mm twin-barrel rotary cannon (with 250 rounds) and up to five tons of bombs and missiles (including air-to-air missiles). The twin-engine, one seat aircraft has a combat radius of 380 kilometers and a top speed of 900 kilometers an hour. It's the Russian equivalent of the U.S. A-10.

 

The Su-25 design is actually more similar to the 19 ton American A-9, a competing design with the 23 ton A-10. The Su-25 and A-9 both are about 14 percent faster than the A-10. But the A-10 is a more stable aircraft and much more resistant to battle damage. Absent lots of ground fire, both the A-10 and Su-25 are very effective against ground targets. The A-10 also has an edge with its unique 30mm autocannon, in addition to seven tons of bombs. The A-9 could carry eight tons, in addition to the same 30mm autocannon.

Massacre in Nigeria Spurs Outcry Over Military Tactics

Burned houses and ashes were left in the wake of heavy fighting between security forces and Islamist militants in Baga.

Days later, the survivors’ faces tensed at the memory of the grim evening: soldiers dousing thatched-roof homes with gasoline, setting them on fire and shooting residents when they tried to flee. As the village rose up in smoke, one said, a soldier threw a child back into the flames. 

Even by the scorched-earth standards of the Nigerian military’s campaign against Islamist insurgents stalking the nation’s north, what happened on the muddy shores of Lake Chad this month appears exceptional. 

The village, Baga, found itself in the cross hairs of Nigerian soldiers enraged by the killing of one of their own, said survivors who fled here to the state capital, 100 miles south. Their home had paid a heavy price: as many as 200 civilians, maybe more, were killed during the military’s rampage, according to refugees, senior relief workers, civilian officials and human rights organizations. 

The apparent size of the civilian death toll — staunchly denied by Nigerian military officials, some of whom blame the insurgent group, Boko Haram, for the carnage — has prompted an unusual uproar. Though heavy civilian casualties are routine in the military’s confrontation with Boko Haram, with dozens dying in poor neighborhoods since 2010 as the army searches for “suspects,” Nigeria’s politicians usually have little to say about it. Past massacres of civilians in retaliation for soldier deaths have passed largely with impunity. 

This time, there have been calls in Nigeria’s national assembly for an investigation and the government has come under withering criticism at home and abroad. The military has said it has begun its own inquiry, and some longstanding observers of the country’s heavy-handed fight against Islamist militants say a tipping point may have been reached. 

“This is coming at a time when we have had similar situations” elsewhere, said Kole Shettima, chairman of the Center for Democracy and Development in the capital, Abuja. “People are tired of the excuses the military is giving and that’s why they are demanding an investigation. This time it’s different. There is a crisis of legitimacy in the military.” 

But in a country where corruption abounds and accountability is rare, others wondered whether it would truly become a watershed moment — or get brushed aside as an unfortunate side effect of fighting a dangerous insurgency. 

“This Baga is just on a bigger scale, but they have been doing this for ages,” the governor of the state, Kashim Shettima, one of the first officials to reach Baga afterward, said of the military. “They’ve not adhered to the rules of engagement,” said Mr. Shettima, who is not related to the democracy advocate. “When you burn down shops and massacre civilians, you are pushing them to join the camp of Boko Haram.” 

Yet, he continued, “We are in a Catch-22 situation.” Boko Haram is a deadly insurgent force that needs to be confronted, the governor said, but not by a military that terrorizes its own people. “We need them to carry out their duties in a civilized manner.” 

Some Baga residents who did not perish in the flames drowned while attempting to escape into Lake Chad, refugees here in the state capital said. Others were attacked by hippopotamuses in the shallow waters, officials said. Soldiers shot people as they ran from the burning houses, refugees said. 

“Many dead, many dead,” said Mohammed Muhammed, 40, a taxi driver from Baga. “People running into the flames, I saw that. If they didn’t run into the flames, the army will shoot them.” As flames enveloped the houses — “they used petroleum,” he said of the soldiers — he fled into the surrounding desert scrub. 

“If you come out” from the flaming houses “they will shoot you,” he said. “Please sir, charge them in the international court!” he shouted. 

Isa Kukulala, 26, a lanky bus driver who had left Baga that morning, gave a similar account: “They poured petrol on the properties. At the same time, they are shooting sporadically, inside the fire. They took a small child from his mother and threw him inside the fire. This is what I have witnessed.”

Nigeria - Baga: DHQ Denies Soldiers' Arrest, as Senator Claims 228 Died

The Defence Headquarters has denied media reports that it has set up panel and arrested several soldiers in connection with the recent incident where hundreds of civilians were alleged to have been killed in Baga border town of Borno State during a firefight between the Multinational Task Force (MTF) and members of the Boko Haram Islamic Sect.

This was contained in a statement signed Saturday by the Director of Defence Information (DDI),  Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade when THISDAY inquired to confirm the report.

Olukolade said that the said report, which claimed the arrest of 15 soldiers over the Baga incident is totally false and "sensational".

Meanwhile, Senator Maina Maaji Lawan, who represents the senatorial zone of Borno State where the attack took place, insists over 200 people lost their lives during the incident.

"I personally visited three graveyards in Baga and counted 228 graves where victims had been buried," he said in a report carried by Reuters on Saturday.

Nigerian army says seven die in latest Islamist attack

Two Nigerian policemen and five attackers were killed in a midnight raid on a police station by suspected members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram in northeast Yobe state, the military said on Thursday.

The attack occurred less than a week after a bloody gun battle between Islamist insurgents and joint military forces from Nigeria, Chad and Niger in neighboring Borno state.

That clash may have been one of the deadliest since Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009. The Nigerian Red Cross is checking reports from locals that 187 people died, although government officials have said this figure is inflated.

Boko Haram and other Islamist groups, such as the al Qaeda-affiliated Ansaru, have become the greatest threat to security in Africa's second largest economy and top oil producer.

"At about midnight Thursday ... gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists attacked Joint Task Force location in Gashua town," spokesman for the Yobe military force Eli Lazarus said.

"Two police officers were killed in the attack while five of the suspected terrorists lost their lives during the encounter."

Lazarus said a rocket-propelled grenade, several vehicles, guns and ammunition had been recovered from the insurgents.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is awaiting a report from a panel he set up to offer an amnesty to the insurgents if they give up their struggle for an Islamic state.

Boko Haram has so far shown no interest in talks and two mediators have already pulled out.

The sect, which wants an Islamic state in a country divided roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, has killed hundreds of people in guerrilla-style attacks, mostly targeting security forces in its northeastern stronghold.

Nigeria - Northerners Are Not Fans Of The Ultra Violence

More evidence piles up that Boko Haram has been communicating with al Qaeda, particularly the branch in Mali. There were apparently Boko Haram members in Mali before French troops began clearing the Islamic terrorists out of northern Mali five weeks ago. The sources for this (captured documents and interrogations) also revealed a rift within Boko Haram. Many members are angry that the terror tactics have not produced much beyond a lot of mayhem and more Nigerians, particularly Moslems, who hate Boko Haram. That is why calls for peace talks since last November have created public disputes between Boko Haram leaders and factions. While Boko Haram has been able to carry out hundreds of attacks in the last few years, some of them quite spectacular bombings or gun battles, the group in no closer to its goal of ruling the north, much less all of Nigeria. While quite violent and militant, Boko Haram is still a small group, with a few thousand members (of varying skill and dedication) and a few hundred thousand northerners who offer support. Judging from the number of tips the police get and the subsequent raids on Boko Haram hideouts, many northerners are not fans of the ultra violence.

 

February 23, 2013: In central Nigeria (Taraba State) a football (soccer) game between a Moslem and a Christian team resulted in a riot that killed at least one person and left several buildings (including a church and a mosque) burned down

 

The government shut down a northern radio station that had broadcast conspiracy theories about polio vaccination being a plot by Christians to poison Moslems. 

 

In northern Gombe State gunmen on motorcycles fired on a group of men playing cards and killed five of them. Boko Haram is violently opposed to playing cards, listening to music, dancing and many other forms of entertainment. 

 

February 22, 2013: Iran denied that it had trained a Nigerian Shia cleric in espionage techniques and asked the man to recruit locals and gather information on the activities of Israelis and Americans in southwestern Nigeria (where the cleric, and many Shia) live. Nigerian police had revealed, two days easier, the arrest and interrogation of the three Shia Nigerian Moslems. The three had admitted spying for Iran and provided many details.

 

February 21, 2013: The government ordered a search in the north, along the Cameroon border, for seven French citizens kidnapped two days ago in Cameroon. 

 

February 20, 2013: In the northern city of Maiduguri people woke to find posters in several neighborhoods proclaiming that Boko Haram had not agreed to a ceasefire. Maiduguri is in Borno State and the state government had been reporting negotiations with Boko Haram for a ceasefire. Elsewhere in Maiduguri a suicide bomber attempted to attack some soldiers but only managed to kill himself and two civilians. 

 

February 19, 2013:  A French family (parents, an uncle and four children aged 5-12) were kidnapped in the north of Nigeria’s southern neighbor Cameroon. The hostages were apparently taken across the border to Nigeria. There are about 6,000 French citizens in Cameroon and all were subsequently warned to stay away from the Nigerian border. Boko Haram later denied they were responsible and no one has yet demanded any ransom or admitted they have the seven. 

 

February 18, 2013: Ansaru (for Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, or "Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa") claimed responsibility for the recent kidnapping seven foreign workers in northern Bauchi State. Ansaru is a Boko Haram splinter group that has become more active recently after first declaring its existence a year ago (and then largely disappearing from view). Ansaru objects to the many Moslems who are being killed by Boko Haram attacks and wants to concentrate on attacks that only kill foreigners or non-Moslem Nigerians. It is unclear how large Ansaru is, and how much violence within Boko Haram, if any, will result from the split. It is believed that there is considerable strife between Boko Haram leaders, with many strong-willed men, each with an armed following, trying to control the entire movement. At the moment most of these disagreements are put aside. Ansaru appears to be very small, perhaps only a hundred or so members, and more interested (than Boko Haram) in working closely with Islamic terror groups operating in the new terrorist sanctuary of northern Mali. This may encourage other extremist factions in Boko Haram to split off and create even more radical and violent groups like Ansaru. 

 

February 17, 2013: Pirates kidnapped six crewmen from a commercial ship off the coast and later demanded a ransom of $1.27 million. This is the fifth such incident this month. 

 

February 16, 2013: In northern Bauchi State armed men raided a construction site and kidnapped seven foreign workers (Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese). 

 

February 15, 2013: In the northern city of Maiduguri two suicide bombers attempted to attack some soldiers but only managed to kill themselves and wound a civilian.

 

Reports from Mail indicate that the first 162 Nigerian troops sent there are not being adequately supplied and have had to ask for food from local leaders. Eventually 1,200 Nigerian troops will be in Mali to help with the peacekeeping.

Naval Security Guard Killed in Pirate Attack Off Nigeria

A Fierce firefight between pirates and security guards off the coast of Nigeria has left one man dead and two wounded.

Heavily armed pirates using machine guns chased and fired upon the Honduras-flagged offshore support vessel, PM Salem, in a speed boat early on 14 December. All the crew, apart from the master and the naval security personnel, retreated to the 2,943gt ship’s citadel. The security team returned fire.

A 20-minute battle ensued before the pirates gave up their attack. In the meantime, one security guard was killed and another two were wounded. The incident happened about 14nm West Pennington Terminal, 25nm southwest of a region called Bayelsa, in the Niger Delta. The vessel was on the way from USARI field to Lagos. The ship’s owner is listed as Project Masters International of Nigeria and reportedly chartered to ExxonMobil.

West Africa maritime security analyst Steve Phelps said that 2-3 incidents have taken place in the same area in recent weeks, and the same group could be behind all of them.

Phelps also pointed out that the attacks are occurring close to a region controlled by former warlord Government Ekpumopolo (aka Tompolo). Tompolo was recently awarded a multimillion-dollar government contract to guard the Niger Delta’s oil pipelines and installations.

“These attacks will be embarrassing for him,” Phelps pointed out. In a message sent to the Wall Street Journal in August, a spokesman for Tompolo said “absolute peace” would be “guaranteed” in the Delta.

Nigeria - The Power Of Plunder

Oil, or any natural resources bonanza, has proved to be a curse to less-developed nations. Nigeria is one of the worst examples. The temptation to steal that money is irresistible to many and the result is pockets of luxury surrounded by a sea of poverty. About half the population doesn’t even have electricity. Roads, schools, hospitals and all sorts of infrastructure are in short supply. Even the oil industry infrastructure is plundered, which is why Nigeria only produces about half as much oil (two million barrels a day) that it is capable of. Even that is enough to account for 95 percent of exports and 40 percent of the federal budget. 

 

In the last year the government tried, for the first time, to accurately count the losses in the oil industry. The conclusion was that the theft, from pipelines and government bank accounts, amounted to over $10 billion a year in the last decade. The annual GDP of Nigeria is $238 billion, for a population of 165 million ($1,440 per capita). Oil accounts for about 14 percent of GDP and unemployment is currently about 25 percent. The report revealed, in detail and for all to see, what a lot of Nigerians had known for a long time. The theft is so pervasive (40 percent of refined petroleum products are stolen) that the activity is hard to miss. Eliminating the stealing will be difficult, because most politicians and political parties are financed by stolen oil money. The well-funded thieves are organized and determined to hang on to their wealth. Judges and police can be bought and many oil thieves have already been prosecuted and escaped. But there is progress. The oil thieves are under attack, some do lose, but the war will go on for years and there will be a lot of defeats.

In the north there is more and more popular hostility to Boko Haram. The Islamic radicals, despite pledges to clean up corruption and a lot of other problems, are being seen as a cure worse than the disease. As a result police are getting more tips about where Boko Haram members and equipment are hidden.   

Investigations into how Boko Haram gets its weapons revealed that many of them come in via southern ports, taking advantage of corrupt customs officials. Smuggling is a big business and the bribed port officials usually don’t check to see that they are letting in illegally. 

In the north police have uncovered a criminal gang that was pretending to be Boko Haram and killing southerners who refused to pay a large amount of cash to get off the hit list. Most paid but enough did not to leave a suspicious pattern of murdered people.

Nigeria and Niger have agreed to conduct joint patrols and coordinate operations along their 1,400 kilometer border, the better to limit Boko Haram movements. 

October 21, 2012: In the northeast (Potiskum in Yobe State) the expected Boko Haram attacks took place, leaving over 30 dead and several government buildings burned down over the last two days. Thousands of people have begun leaving the city of Potiskum, which is 230 kilometers west of the Boko Haram stronghold of Maiduguri. 

October 19, 2012: In the north (Borno State) a Boko Haram leader (Shuaibu Mohammed Bama) was arrested in the home of a politician (senator Ahmed Zanna) who had been suspected of supporting Boko Haram. Politicians have long been known to make deals with criminal organizations, and Boko Haram is no exception. 

In the northeastern city of Maiduguri, troops battled Boko Haram attackers, leaving at least six dead (including a Chinese man shot down by Boko Haram). 

October 18, 2012: In the northeast (Yobe State) an army raid hit a new Boko Haram hideout as the group was preparing to launch new attacks.

 

A Fatal Mistake

Oil has been discovered in the northeast, near the Chad border (where oil has already been discovered and wells are producing). The problem will be enticing foreign oil companies to drill and develop oil production. The north is suffering from an outbreak of Islamic terrorism and the local officials are, in the best of times, very corrupt and uncooperative. Then there are the many problems oil companies have had in the south (Niger Delta) where the corruption and chaos have been so bad that some foreign oil companies have given up and left.

Five of nine Nigerian airlines have collapsed this year, in part because of corrupt practices and in part because many Nigerians are afraid to fly Nigerian owned airliners because there have been so many crashes (the result of hiring the wrong people and managers stealing money meant for maintenance.)

September 11, 2012: Near the northeastern city of Maiduguri police raided a Boko Haram base and arrested eleven suspected terrorists and seized 19 bombs, seven assault rifles and over 1,500 rounds of rifle ammo.

September 10, 2012: In the north (Borno State) police raided what turned out to be a Boko Haram headquarters and arrested five terrorist commanders and seven other Boko Haram members. Also seized were 36 bombs, bomb making materials, weapons and ammo, plus computers, radios and documents.

September 7, 2012: Near the northeastern city of Maiduguri troops clashed with Boko Haram gunmen, killing three and capturing 13.

Over the last two days Boko Haram gunmen have destroyed 24 cell phone towers and other facilities, killing 16 people as they did so. Boko Haram also threatened to kill members of local and foreign media who publish unfavorable items about Boko Haram. The Islamic terror group accuses the cell phone companies of cooperating with the government in tracking down Boko Haram members.  The government has since assigned security personnel to guard all cell phone company facilities, but this will not stop attacks, because there are not enough guards to go around and Boko Haram can still mass larger numbers of attackers. These attacks have made Boko Haram even more unpopular because Nigerians are quite fond of their cell phones and have come to depend on them. The cell phone system attacks may have had something to do with the sudden increase in citizen tips the police have received about where Boko Haram hideouts are.

September 4, 2012: Pirates attacked a small (30,000 ton) tanker off the coast and seized it. But the crew had a secure safe room prepared and all 23 crew members locked themselves into the safe room and got in touch with the Nigerian Navy. Before a warship showed up after midnight, the pirates fled. Normally the pirates seek to take the crew by surprise at night, cut all communications and turn off the satellite transponder (which shows the owner where the ship is at all times). The pirates then lock up the crew, steer the ship towards a waiting tanker, steal as much of the cargo as they can and then depart with all the portable valuables. The stolen oil is sold, at a big discount, to oil brokers who specialize in stolen oil. The ship is usually soon found and the crew released. Attacks like this have happened three times in the last two weeks, all in the same area (the Gulf of Guinea).

Nigeria - Onward Christian Victims

In the Moslem north, a week of violence has left over 200 dead and more than a thousand wounded. Boko Haram attacks on churches got the violence started, as Christians then attacked Moslems in retaliation. Boko Haram continued to attack police and soldiers who tried to suppress the unrest. All this is concentrated in a few northern cities where there are large Christian minorities and plenty of churches to attack. Much of the violence occurred in Kaduna, a Moslem city in central Nigeria that contains a large Christian population. Moslem and Christian religious leaders called for calm, but Christian clerics made it clear that Christians had the right to defend themselves. At the same time Christian leaders spoke out against reprisal attacks in the largely Christian south (against the Moslem minority there.)

June 22, 2012: A bomb exploded outside a nightclub in the capital, causing no injuries. Nightclubs are favorite Boko Haram targets, but extortionists often make the same kinds of attacks.

In the northern cities of Damaturu and Kaduna over a hundred people have died as Christians retaliated for three attacks on churches last Sunday. Boko Haram took credit for the church attacks.

In the northern city of Kano, police arrested four men who were trying to plant a bomb at a major mosque.

In northern Kano State, police imposed a curfew.

June 21, 2012: The U.S. has declared the three top leaders of Boko Haram to be international terrorists. This will make it more difficult for these three to travel outside of Nigeria and make them a target for American counter-terrorism forces.  The United States did not designate Boko Haram as an international terrorist organization, something Nigerian leaders wanted.

President Johnson dismissed his national security adviser and defense minister. Both men were from the Christian south. A northerner (a retired army colonel and cousin of a major Moslem leader in the north) was promptly appointed as the new national security adviser.

June 20, 2012: In the northern city of Kano, nearly 200 casualties resulted as police fought Christian and Moslem mobs. The Christians are attacking Mosques in retaliation for Boko Haram attacks on Christians.

June 19, 2012: In the northern city of Damaturu Boko Haram gunmen continued to fight with police.

June 18, 2012: In the northern city of Damaturu police responded to Boko Haram attacks and fought Boko Haram fighters, All this left at least 40 dead.

June 17, 2012: In northern Kaduna State bombs in three churches left 16 dead.