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Nigerian President Pays Visit to Volatile Northeast

FILE - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan speaks to the media on the situation in Chibok.

VOA News

Last updated on: January 15, 2015 1:42 PM

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has made a surprise visit to northeastern Borno state, the center of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Jonathan, who is campaigning for re-election, flew to the state capital of Maiduguri on Thursday. There, he spoke to troops at an army barracks and met with hundreds of civilians displaced from Baga, a town captured by the insurgents earlier this month.

The president has been criticized for not doing enough to push back the insurgents or to recover more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram last April.

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Mariama Diallo

January 15, 2015 11:42 PM

In less than two weeks, the militant group Boko Haram has seized a key military base in northeastern Nigeria, strapped a suicide bomb on a 10-year-old girl that killed 16 people, attacked another base in neighboring Cameroon and directly threatened that country's president, Paul Biya. As Nigeria prepares for presidential elections next month, some wonder if voting will be possible in some parts of Nigeria with the rampant insecurity linked to the militant group. Mariama Diallo reports.

The group has killed thousands of people and seized large parts of Borno state despite a state of emergency Jonathan declared there and in two neighboring states in May 2013.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said recent Boko Haram attacks in northeastern Nigeria were "nothing less" than a crime against humanity.

Kerry spoke Thursday during a visit to Bulgaria, a day after Amnesty International released satellite images said to show widespread destruction caused by Boko Haram fighters in two towns this month.

"It's an enormously horrendous slaughter of innocent people, and Boko Haram continues to present a serious threat not just to Nigeria and the region but to all of our values and to all of our sense of responsibility regarding terrorism," Kerry stated.

Kerry called Boko Haram "one of the most evil and threatening terrorist entities on the planet today."

He also said he discussed a possible initiative on Nigeria and Boko Haram with British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond, but did not give further details.

Satellite images

Amnesty International released before-and-after satellite images of Baga and nearby Doron Baga that it says show an estimated 3,700 structures were burned down soon after Boko Haram seized control of Baga on January 3.

The human rights group said interviews with witnesses and local officials suggest that the militants shot hundreds of civilians, including small children and a woman who was in labor.

Nigeria's military put the death toll from the Baga attacks at 150 but local officials have said it is likely above 1,000.

Motive

Amnesty said Wednesday that based on its research, Boko Haram may have attacked Baga because it was home to members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a group of people helping the army fight the Islamist militants.

The Nigerian army has struggled to contain Boko Haram, which now controls large areas of Borno and seized a key base from the military in Baga in the January 3 attacks.

The group has said it is taking territory for a caliphate ruled by Islamic law.

Boko Haram's dominance in the northeast and the ongoing violence have raised doubts about whether voting for next month's presidential election can take place in Borno and two neighboring states.

Jonathan is facing what appears to be a strong challenge from a new coalition of opposition parties and their presidential candidate, former military leader Muhammadu Buhari.

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Comment Sorting

Comments

by: Julea from: South Africa

January 17, 2015 7:59 AM

Islam has nothing to do with the establishment of an islamic caliphate. The muslim brotherhood has nothing to do with islam either. Islam is a peaceful religion marked with psychopaths that practise islamic jihad which has nothing to do with islam. And to call Boko Haram a crime against humanity is racist and islamophobic.

by: williweb from: Phoenix Arizona USA

January 15, 2015 3:07 PM

Boko haram, IS, al-shabaab, taliban must all be on, not a no-fly list, but a no-anything list. Could ISIL selling stolen oil on the black market not be stopped? Could boko haram taking over a Nigerian base not be stopped? They must be countered and defeated decisively.

by: Jeremy from: Ontario

January 15, 2015 2:06 PM

Mr. Kerry...stop talking. Either do something, or say nothing. Boko Haram has performed crimes against humanity for I don't know how long. Good 'ol USA flapping their gums again.

by: George Kafantaris

January 15, 2015 1:57 PM

We are dealing with savages of the worse kind. Only boots on the ground will eradicate them. No mercy and no looking back. This is how we always dealt with ruthless barbarians.

by: Godwin from: Nigeria

January 15, 2015 1:37 PM

Boko haram’s made what it is because of an inconsequential government at Abuja. Elsewhere we see and hear how governments tackle insurgency by going on the offensive. The Nigerian’s a reverse – our troops react after boko haram has struck. And that’s reflective of the Nigerian government that doesn’t know what its calling is nor what its responsibility to the Nigerian people ought to be. Which is why a failed government is calling for the applause of the people and asking for another term of office. But that’s Nigeria for you – everything goes, and the government’s merely a window dressing to tell the world how the rich grow richer while the rest grow poorer – even to the extinction of the middle class.

The failing oil revenue must be borne directly by the populace – which has led to the devaluation of the country’s currency to further attenuate the purchasing power of the common people. Boko haram is a creation of the ruling party by the hand of the opposition which gave life to insurgency to knell the common man. The Nigerian government of Goodluck Jonathan and its Buhari Opposition are jointly crime against humanity with boko haram.

by: Robulator from: DC

January 15, 2015 8:40 AM

Mr. Bolt-neck Enough twaddle. Tell us something we don't already know.

by: Just Sayin from: Planet earth

January 15, 2015 8:29 AM

Don't just spout off, do something! All of you politically correct people only know how to promote #1. Nothing to do with actually solving a problem.

In Response

by: Rodney

January 15, 2015 9:24 AM

On a more specific point in AFRICA what about the land seizures and killing of farmers and their employees in Zimbabwe? not to mention all those now without employment.Yes Mr Kerry Sir, short memories indeed.

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