Nigeria Tam Tam: al-Qaeda training Boko Haram Terrorism

Niger links Boko Haram to al-Qaeda

 

THE ranks of nations and international organisations expressing outrage at the killings by the Boko Haram swelled yesterday with the addition of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Russian Federation.

But Niger Republic went beyond condemnation to give insight into the activities of the Islamic sect as the country’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum said members of the group had received training in the making of explosives at al-Qaeda camps in the Sahel region of northern Africa.

The carnage unleashed by the sect was underscored as three Anambra communities of Agulu, Adazi Nnukwu and Azigbo yesterday buried 15 of the group’s victims.

Relations and friends of the victims noted that enough of Igbo blood had been spilled to keep Nigeria united.

Adazi Nnukwu lost no fewer than 12 indigenes, Agulu lost one, while Azigbo lost two, including a bank manager.

The ECOWAS Commission said yesterday that it roundly condemned the spate of terror attacks, which had recently claimed scores of lives in different parts of Nigeria. It maintained that the attacks by Boko Haram were “aggravating insecurity among both citizens and visitors.”

According to the sub-regional group, the West African leaders have noted with regret that “the latest deadly attacks in the country’s ancient northern city of Kano on Friday, January 20, 2012 happened in spite of the determined efforts by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to rein in those behind these attacks.”

Only last Monday, Nigeria’s violent situation reportedly featured at the United Nations Security Council, where the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa Said Djinnit submitted that Nigeria was among countries in the sub-region that remained vulnerable. He also warned that such vulnerability could jeopardise peace-building, democracy and stability, pointing to “worrisome developments that could come to the fore, as in Nigeria, which had been a regional linchpin, contributing much to peace and security.”...Read More...