When the RUF rebel war broke out in the East of Sierra Leone in 1991 and was still confined to the provinces, it's reported that Mr. Johnson and some of the cosmopolitan Creole elites in Freetown still remote from the theatre of war and feeling safe and unaffected by what was going on in the hinterland said, " Oh the savages ! Let them continue to butcher themselves up there!" But when the savages eventually got to Freetown on 6th January 1999 to complete "Operation Spare no soul", Mr. Johnson realised that the wall and fence around his home and garage would not offer him , his wife and daughters and the rest of the family any protection from the rape and shoot to kill, burn & ravage, loot & pillage, all the boats to Banjul were filled, the airport was under rebel control – it was only then that he moaned "Which god for call? "
Re- "Boko Haram continues to be primarily active in northeastern Nigeria and does not yet pose an existential threat to the Nigerian government itself."
That could be the problem, with the Nigerian government still sitting relatively comfortable with the idea that the BK "does not yet pose an existential threat to the Nigerian government itself" and that the insurgents are anti-government and anti-Jonathan anyway, and the certain knowledge by the current Nigerian government that there's no way that the Boko Haram people are ever going to vote for Goodluck Jonathan and his crew in 2015 when they intend to bring him down by the ballot box – if indeed they intend to submit to that sort of democratic process at all.
The government is not going all out to contain the Boko Haram Terrorists, operating in the North East – and by definition, a real government exercises sovereignty over all its territories and as Rev Dr. Martin Luther King put it, and "Injustice somewhere is a threat to Justice everywhere"
"Boko Haram continues to be primarily active in northeastern Nigeria."Emphasis on "primarily". But when the Boko Haram struck at the very heart of the seat of government in Abuja, Nigeria's capital which is located at the political and geographic epicentre of the country, a few hundred miles from the edges of the North East, and their terrorist target was not a government building but the UN building, supposed to be under government protection. This of course drew more international attention to the Boko - more than the ASUU strike which started on July 1, 2013. (The Boko Haram is not expected to be interested in ASUU – as far as they are concerned, that branch of Western Cultural imperialism could all go to hell.
My first gut reaction to the news that President Goodluck Jonathan was on a four-day pilgrimage to Israel was "aha, di Boko Haram is not going to like this o!" and that could motivate them to even increase their attacks not against their own kind, but against Christian missionaries and those who went on pilgrimage to the holy sites in Israel.
"Boko Haram fighters allegedly destroyed several aircraft and military vehicles and set fire to a number of buildings"..." as well as two military helicopters."
The attack on the airbase in Maiduguri is a significant escalation, since it is not a civilian target (which usually defines terrorism) but an open declaration of war on the Nigerian military – and this comes at a time when Boko Haram has been officially listed as a terrorist organisation, by the United States. This means that they will be more strapped for cash...
In their latest terrorist operation they used "explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and fire"
The weapons that could be pouring in from Libya, Niger, Mali, and Cameroun could also be a significant challenge to the Nigerian Military - some of whom could even have some personal religious/ political affiliation / sympathy with the Boko terrorists. That the Boko could soon turn their attention to targeting valuable infrastructure, bridges, businesses, public buildings etc, in other parts of the country is another challenge awaiting the protectors of all of Nigeria's people...
Question is, as the next presidential elections approach, are we to expect less or more attempts at de-stabilising the country?
Na wah o
.
On Tuesday, 3 December 2013 18:04:03 UTC+1, Toyin Falola wrote:
In Nigeria, an Attack Shows Boko Haram's Current Capabilities
December 3, 2013 | 1102 GMTSummary
STR/AFP/Getty Images
Soldiers stand outside the 79 Composite Group Air Force base that was attacked in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Dec. 2.
An attack on a Nigerian air base shows that ongoing military operations in northeastern Nigeria have not prevented Boko Haram from mounting attacks in the urban centers of the northeast, despite government claims to the contrary. However, the attack -- notable for both its size and target -- does not necessarily note new capabilities or a departure from the previous pattern of attacks. Boko Haram continues to be primarily active in northeastern Nigeria and does not yet pose an existential threat to the Nigerian government itself.
Analysis
Boko Haram attacked an air base in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, on Dec. 2. The attack was launched around 2:30 or 3 a.m., according to local reports, with firefights continuing for approximately five hours. While the air base seems to have been the main target in the attack, the Maiduguri International Airport -- which hosts the air base -- as well as several military checkpoints and nearby shops and fuel stations were also targeted. Boko Haram fighters allegedly destroyed several aircraft and military vehicles and set fire to a number of buildings, but the Nigerian military claims to have successfully kept the militants from setting fire to the Maiduguri International Airport building. The military also claims to have killed 24 of the attackers and that only two soldiers were wounded while repelling the attack.
According to reports, more than 300 Boko Haram fighters attacked the air base, riding trucks and allegedly an armored vehicle captured from the military, and attempted to destroy vehicles and infrastructure by using explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and fire. The attack prompted a large military response depending heavily on airstrikes against the militants. During the aftermath of the attack, Borno state declared a 24-hour curfew in Maiduguri, effectively shutting down any traffic within the city to limit civilian casualties and facilitate the search for remaining Boko Haram militants.
Although Boko Haram has launched significant attacks before, operations by such large groups of militants have grown less frequent as ongoing Nigerian military operations have attempted to disrupt the militants' movements and staging. Nigerian security forces have been conducting ground operations aiming to locate and destroy pockets of Boko Haram fighters. Therefore, this attack does not demonstrate a new capability for the militant group; rather, it highlights the ineffectiveness of Nigerian military efforts to interdict militant attacks on critical locations, whether urban areas or military installations. The attack bears the hallmark of many persistent insurgencies that -- like Boko Haram -- have been made up of lightly armed, mobile forces able to blend in and disperse but also able to mass at critical times for assaults.
The target of this most recent attack is also notable considering Boko Haram's previous choices of mostly soft targets, such as smaller military garrisons, prisons, churches and other civilian facilities. Moreover, the location of the base -- in a major urban center -- discredits the Nigerian security forces' claims that they had fully secured the main cities and had limited Boko Haram's activity to the rural areas of the northeastern states.
Image: Nigeria's State of EmergencyBoko Haram's targeting of military aircraft and the base from which they operate could indicate an attempt to delay or interrupt ongoing operations against Boko Haram camps in the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which have been under a regional state of emergency since May 14. During the attack, militants were able to destroy three military aircraft -- although military officials claimed they had been decommissioned already -- as well as two military helicopters. The group's success in destroying equipment critical to Nigerian military operations against the militant group could compel Boko Haram to attempt attacks against similar targets in the future.
Despite Boko Haram's ability to mount such a notable attack, the militant group is still not an existential threat to the Nigerian government. It continues to be limited in both geographic reach and military capabilities. Boko Haram's attacks continue to be primarily located within the northeastern states of Nigeria. Although the group has carried out limited operations such as bombings or kidnappings outside that area, other regions of Nigeria lack the specific conditions that allow the group to operate. Boko Haram's core support still comes from ethnic networks, specifically within the Kanuri, the main group from which Boko Haram militants are recruited. These ethnic networks extend into southeastern Niger and northern Cameroon as well, although northeastern Nigeria is the only place where the Kanuri are even a sizable minority. Boko Haram has never been able to transcend its ethnic identity, and this confines the group to Nigeria's northeast.
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