Boko Haram: Jonathan Appeals To U.S For More Help

 Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan appealed for
more US help in fighting Boko Haram, as the Islamists struck again on
Saturday and called for a boycott of upcoming general elections.

The head of state for the first time claimed direct links between the
Sunni radicals who have been waging a six-year insurgency in Nigeria and
the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

He told the Wall Street Journal in an interview: “Are they (the United
States) not fighting ISIS? Why can’t they come to Nigeria?

“They are our friends. If Nigeria has a problem, then I expect the US to
come and assist us.”

But Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said there are no plans to
send US troops to Nigeria.

“I can tell you that there are no plans as I speak here to send
unilaterally, to send or to add US troops into Nigeria. There are no US
troops operating in Nigeria,” he told reporters.

Kirby said the United States was in the early phases of helping establish
a multi-national task force of African nations to help Nigeria defeat Boko
Haram.

Jonathan’s comments were published as hundreds of Islamist fighters
invaded the northeastern city of Gombe, firing heavy guns and throwing
leaflets calling for locals to shun the elections.

The attack, which began at about 9:00 am (0800 GMT), saw residents flee
and the authorities impose a 24-hour lock-down in the city, which Boko
Haram has repeatedly targeted.

Nigeria’s defence headquarters said it had repelled the attack.

“The terrorists attack on Gombe has been repelled. Troops are in pursuit”,
it said on Twitter.

Boko Haram has opened up two new fronts in its campaign to create a
hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, pushing into neighbouring
Niger last week and, for the first time on Friday, into Chad.

It has also increased the frequency and intensity of its attacks on
northern Cameroon. The increasing regional threat has led to the
deployment of troops from all three neighbouring countries, reflecting
security fears.

- Foreign links -

Jonathan and his government have long sought to portray the insurgency as
being fuelled by outside forces and he has previously called Boko Haram
“Al-Qaeda in west Africa”.

Critics have interpreted his attempt to blame foreigners for the violence
that has left more than 13,000 dead and displaced more than one million
since 2009 as a diversion from national failings.

Boko Haram, which loosely translates from the Hausa language widely spoken
in northern Nigeria as “Western education is forbidden”, started out in
2002 as a largely peaceful Islamist movement.

But it has been transformed in the last six years from a rag-tag group of
guerrilla fighters into a conventional army, seizing territory and dozens
of towns in three northeast Nigerian states.

The group has generally not been thought to have any direct operational
links with overseas jihadists, although some fighters may have received
training from Al-Qaeda-linked militants in north Africa.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has previously mentioned IS group leader
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in videos but has not pledged allegiance to the
outfit.

The Nigerian group’s tactics of extreme violence and mass casualty
hit-and-run raids, bombings and suicide attacks also predated those
carried out by the IS group.

But Jonathan told the US newspaper that Nigeria had intelligence reports
that Boko Haram was receiving “training and funds” from IS militants.

The United States has provided surveillance and intelligence specialists,
as well as aerial drones, to help in the high-profile hunt for 219
schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram last April.

But bilateral ties have since been fraught over Washington’s refusal to
provide military hardware because of concerns about human rights abuses in
the Nigerian army.

- Delayed election -

The latest attack in Gombe, south of Boko Haram’s centre of operations,
coincided with the original date for presidential elections, at which
Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term.

The vote was postponed last Saturday after the electoral commission was
advised that regional forces needed more time to tackle the insurgents and
would not be able to provide security on polling day.

But the six-week deadline to effectively secure and stabilise the
northeast and allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the
violence to vote has been seen as unrealistic.

Jonathan on Friday maintained that postponing the elections until March 28
would give the security agencies time to “clean up” the three states worst
hit by the insurgency for voting to take place.