Australia Formally Lists Boko Haram As Terror Group

 Australia has formally listed Nigerian militant group Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation.

The move makes it illegal to fund, train with, recruit for or become a member of the group that became notorious when it kidnapped 250 schoolgirls in April.

Australia has joined with the US, UK, Canada and Nigeria in their decision to list the group.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced plans to list Boko Haram last month, saying the world was transfixed and horrified by the group's hostage taking.

United States Slams $18m Bounty on Boko Haram, Ansaru and 3 African Militants

WASHINGTON  (AFP) – The United States posted $18 million in rewards Friday for the capture of four African militants involved in the kidnapping of foreigners and attacks on Western targets.

Some $5 million each was offered for a former member of Nigeria’s Boko Haram and two founding leaders of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) based in the Maghreb region.

A fourth reward of $3 million was set for an Egyptian extremist who has plotted against the US, the State Department said.

Khalid al-Barnawi was named as a leader of the Nigeria-based group known as Ansaru that split from Boko Haram in early 2012, the agency’s Rewards for Justice program said in a statement. The group has close ties to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and was behind the kidnapping of seven foreigners in a raid on a construction site in restive northern Nigeria in February 2013. The seven from Britain, Greece, Lebanon and Italy were later executed by their captors.
Barnawi also reportedly helped plan the May 2011 kidnapping by Ansaru of a British and an Italian engineer, who were both killed 10 months later.

“Ansaru originated as a faction of Boko Haram, has close ties to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and has sought to target Westerners, including US citizens,” the State Department said.

It also named Hamad el-Khairy and Ahmed el-Tilemsi as founding leaders of MUJAO, and former members of AQIM. Tilemsi took part in the kidnapping of two French nationals in Niamey, Niger in January 2011. The men were later executed in Mali after an attempt by French special forces to rescue them failed.
As a military leader of MUJAO, Tilemsi also aided the abduction of three European aid workers in Algeria from a refugee camp in Tindouf, in October 2011.
MUJAO claimed to be behind that kidnapping — the first time that the group emerged to the fore saying it was an offshoot of AQIM.

The three Europeans were finally released in July 2012 in Mali in exchange for three Islamists held by Mauritania.
While still a member of AQIM, Khairy planned attacks in Mauritania and took part in the December 2008 abduction of UN envoy and Canadian Ambassador Robert Fowler in Niger.
He had also ordered the 2011 kidnapping of the three European aid workers in Algeria, in which two people were also wounded.

Khairy has also claimed responsibility for the April 2012 kidnappings of seven Algerian diplomats in Mali. At least one of the hostages were later killed, and three were freed.

Rewards for Justice also offered $3 million for Egyptian explosives expert Abu Yusuf al-Muhajir, a former member of the Tawhid w’al Jihad Egypt, described as an extremist group active in the Sinai Peninsula from 2004 to 2006. "Abu Yusuf was involved in attack planning against a variety of targets in Egypt, including US interests,” the State Department said.

Yahoo News

Concerns over foreign assistance on Chibok girls

ALMOST one month into the deployment of the various foreign assistance teams to Nigeria, there are concerns over the lack of communication between them and their Nigerian counterparts on the fate of the over 200 school girls abducted on April 14, 2014 by Boko Haram terrorists. The euphoria that greeted their coming with the high expectations that it will change the dynamics of the search and rescue efforts has ebbed.

They have arrived because the abduction of the schoolgirls attracted worldwide condemnation, with world political leaders, celebrities and activists expressing shock and outrage. It became fashionable to join the campaign for their release under the banner of #Bring Back Our Girls.’

The international outrage forced world leaders to express readiness to assist Nigeria, if they so request. President Goodluck Jonathan had come under fire, facing accusations of inertia. He was also berated for failure to seek international assistance. Faced with the anger at home and abroad, President Jonathan requested for foreign assistance, something the Nigerian military and some political leaders had hitherto been reluctant to do. Their coming was a lease of fresh air to the slow response of the Nigerian military in rescuing the school girls.

Nigeria specifically asked for intelligence and equipment to help trace the location of the Chibok girls. The request for assistance by the foreign militaries was sought because the Nigerian military is down in terms of equipment holdings in the area of sophisticated surveillance platforms.

President Jonathan, spoke with his British Prime Minister, David Cameron on the phone, requesting for the deployment of British Satellite Imaging capabilities and advanced tracking technologies to boost the outcome of the search. Several countries pledged to send military experts, spy planes and intelligence experts to assist the Nigerian military in the rescue mission.

Among countries that pledged assistance were the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, China and Israel. The United States deployed an Interdisciplinary Team for Assistance working with their Nigerian counterparts in the areas of security, communications and intelligence. It also deployed 80 troops to Chad. The troops will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area, using at least one drone. The UK also sent a Sentinel spy plane in addition to its team of experts.

Read more here:
Guardian Newspaper

Hilary Clinton, State Dept. Broke Law, Lied About Boko Haram Terror Threat - Senator Vitter

A leading senator has charged that Hillary Clinton’s State Department broke the law by intentionally obfuscating and downplaying to Congress the terror threat posed by the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, which recently gained international infamy for violently kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls.

Sen. David Vitter (R., La.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, petitioned Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday to explain why Clinton’s State Department misrepresented and downplayed key information about Boko Haram’s terrorist activities in its annual reports to Congress.

Former Secretary of State Clinton lied to Congress when she said that the State Department lacked the necessary information to designate Boko Haram as a terror group, according to Vitter’s letter, which presents new information about the State Department’s purported efforts to downplay the terror group’s impact.

Clinton’s State Department fought against efforts to designate Boko Haram for nearly two years, a move that likely limited U.S. efforts to confront the group earlier and allowed it to grow in strength.

Vitter charges that officials working under Clinton intentionally manipulated words and mislead Congress in its annual reports to create the impression that Boko Haram posed little to no threat.

Clinton’s State Department “repeatedly stated in the year leading up to the designation that it did not have data available or the necessary understanding to make the determination,” Vitter wrote to Kerry, according to a copy of unreleased letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

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Washington Free Beacon

Nigerian Army Claims Discovery Of Facility For Rocket Launchers In Kano

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says it has uncovered a rocket launcher production facility in Kano State.
According to Director of Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade, the facility was discovered at Dorayi District in Kumbotso Local Government Area of the state, after a cordon-and-search exercise.

“The discovery followed the arrest of a prominent member of the terrorist group,” Olukolade said, adding that locally-made anti-aircraft gun and mortar accessories and rocket-propelled grenade tubes and launcher along with accessories were recovered.
“Also seized were three AK47 rifles and hundreds of rounds of assorted ammunitions, as well as drilling machines and other fabricating equipment.”

Olukolade urged the public to always report suspicious persons to security agencies in their localities to prevent unwholesome act by terrorists.

Source:
SR

United Nations Security Council Brands Boko Haram a Terror Group, Slam Sanctions on Sect

The U.N. Security Council has officially declared Boko Haram a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida on Thursday and imposed sanctions against the Islamist extremists who have carried out a wave of deadly attacks and the recent abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power welcomed the council's action, calling it "an important step in support of the government of Nigeria's efforts to defeat Boko Haram and hold its murderous leadership accountable for atrocities."
Nigeria, which is serving a two-year term on the council, asked the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida to add Boko Haram to the list of al-Qaida-linked organizations subject to an arms embargo and asset freeze.

The 14 other council members had until 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Thursday to object and none did. The group was then added to the U.N. sanctions list under the name Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, with Boko Haram as an alias.
Quinlan said there's "very clear evidence" that Boko Haram members have trained with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, particularly in developing improvised explosive devices "one of the main weapons of modern-day terrorism and particularly al-Qaida." There is also evidence that a significant number of Boko Haram members have fought alongside al-Qaida affiliates in Mali, he said.
Quinlan said Boko Haram's current leader, Abubakar Shekau, also made "very, very strong statements of ... terrorist solidarity with al-Qaida in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia" and other places in November 2012.

Before Boko Haram's addition, the al-Qaida sanctions list included 62 entities and groups, and 213 individuals who are also subject to travel bans.
Quinlan said it's hard to say what the practical impact of sanctions against Boko Haram will be. One possible problem in tracking their finances, he said, is that large parts of the group work in the jungle and probably use cash rather than "substantial or sophisticated financial arrangements for banking but you never know."
He urged all 193 U.N. member states to focus on Boko Haram as a violent al-Qaida related group, ensure that it is included in any national terrorist lists, and check their own country's financial and arms dealings to ensure that the organization isn't getting money or weapons.

Nigeria's U.N. Ambassador, Joy Ogwu said Wednesday "the important thing is to attack the problem, and that is terrorism."

According to the sanctions committee, Boko Haram is responsible for attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria and Cameroon and has also been active in Chad and Niger.
At a summit in Paris on Saturday aimed at hammering out a plan to rescue the 276 girls, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Boko Haram was acting "clearly as an al-Qaida operation." He only reluctantly accepted outside help after years of insisting that Boko Haram was a local problem.
French President Francois Hollande told the summit that Boko Haram is armed with weapons that came from Libya following the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, and the training took place in Mali before the ouster of its al-Qaida linked Islamist leaders. As for the money, Hollande said its origins were murky.

Source:
The Buffalo News