LAGOS, MAY 08 -
Islamic militants who have triggered international outrage over the
kidnapping of more than 270 Nigerian schoolgirls opened fire on a busy
marketplace, killing hundreds of people in a new spasm of violence in
the country's northeast.
The attack escalates Nigeria's growing crisis from a campaign of
bombings, massacres and abductions being waged by the Boko Haram
terrorist network in its campaign to impose an Islamic state on Africa's
most populous nation.
As many as 300 people were killed in the assault late Monday on the
town of Gamboru Ngala on Nigeria's border with Cameroon. The extremists
opened fire on a marketplace bustling with shoppers taking advantage of
the cooler nighttime temperatures in the semi-desert region, then
rampaged through the town for 12 hours, setting houses ablaze and
shooting those who tried to escape.
The attack and hundreds of casualties were confirmed by Borno state
information commissioner Mohammed Bulama, who spoke to The Associated
Press by telephone Wednesday.
Nigerian federal Senator Ahmed Zannah blamed fighters of the Boko Haram
terrorist network that has claimed responsibility for the April 15
kidnapping of 276 teenage girls from their boarding school in Chibok, in
northeastern Borno state. The insurgents threatened to sell the young
women into slavery in a video seen by AP.
Outrage over the missing girls and the government's failure to rescue
them brought angry Nigerian protesters into the streets this week in an
embarrassment for the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, who had
hoped to showcase the country's emergence as Africa's largest economy
as it hosted the Africa meeting of the World Economic Forum, the
continent's version of Davos.
Offers of international assistance have poured in, with the Obama
administration announcing Tuesday it was sending personnel and equipment
to help Nigerian security forces in their search for the girls in the
vast Sambisa Forest. Jonathan confirmed that he has accepted the
American assistance, which the Pentagon said Wednesday will help with
communications, logistics and intelligence planning, but will not
include any military operations.
Britain and China announced Wednesday that Nigeria has accepted their
offers of help, and France said it was sending in a "specialized team"
to help with search and rescue of the girls.
"In the face of such an appalling act, France, like other democratic
nations, must react," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. "This
crime will not go unpunished."
Fabius gave no details, except to say the team was being drawn from
forces already in the region. France has soldiers in Niger, Cameroon and
Mali, where it is fighting Islamic insurgents, as well as in Central
African Republic.
The kidnapping has ignited a viral social media campaign under the
hashtag #BringBackOurGirls that has brought renewed attention to Boko
Haram's campaign of violence. On Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama
joined in, tweeting, "Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls
and their families. It's time to #BringBackOurGirls."
Boko Haram's 5-year-old Islamic uprising has claimed the lives of
thousands of Muslims and Christians, including more than 1,500 people
killed in attacks so far this year. The group, whose name means "Western
education is sinful," has tried to root out Western influence by
targeting schools, as well as attacking churches, mosques, government
buildings and security forces in the country of 170 million, divided
between a predominantly Christian south and Muslim north.
The homegrown terror group was largely contained to the northern part
of Nigeria before expanding its reach with the help of al-Qaida in the
Islamic Maghreb, the terrorist network's affiliate in West Africa, which
took in Boko Haram fighters for training in its camps in southern
Somalia, beginning in 2010.
The spiraling violence "has become really extreme and is pushing
Nigeria toward a critical phase," said Elizabeth Donnelly, Nigeria
analyst at Chatham House, an institute on international affairs in
London.
"The steady escalation of Boko Haram's violence continues. ... They
have widened their targets indiscriminately to include civilians,
markets and schools. Now basically anybody is a target," she said.
This has mobilized Nigerian public opinion.
"Now all Nigerians feel they are involved. Civil society is beginning
to coalesce over the plight of the kidnapped girls and in opposition to
the violence by Boko Haram and to abuses committed by the military,"
Donnelly said. "This puts pressure on the government and it also puts
pressure on Boko Haram."
If the search for the students is successful and they are released, it
could help find a way to bring the extremist violence under control, she
said.
"But if things do not go well, if there is a negative outcome, Nigeria
could find that the violence exacerbates," she said. "The country could
find itself in an even more severe crisis. All sides must be mindful
that action and engagement has consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment