Boko Haram Releases New Video Boasting of Bama and Baga Attack, Reject Dialogue!
KANO
(AFP) – The purported head of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has
claimed two recent deadly attacks in the northeast in a video obtained
by AFP Monday, which also depicts women and children apparently being
held hostage.
The
video features Abubakar Shekau, declared a global terrorist by the
United States, seated on a rug with a kalashnikov resting behind his
right shoulder.
A video grab made on March 21, 2013 . AFP
“We
are the ones that carried out the Bama attack,” Shekau said in the
Hausa language, referring to the May 7 assault that killed 55 people,
mostly soldiers and police.
“We
also carried out the attack in Baga,” he further said of the April 16
raid in the town near Lake Chad that sparked clashes with soldiers which
killed nearly 200.
Nigeria’s
military has been accused of causing scores of deaths in the Baga
violence by deliberately setting fires that razed thousands of homes.
“It was you, the security agents that went into town the following day and burnt homes and killed people at will,” Shekau said.
The
military has fiercely denied the reported abuses by its soldiers,
insisting that only 37 people died in the Baga violence, including 30
suspected Islamists.
Some
seven minutes into the 12-minute video message, the screen splits,
showing Shekau on the left with a group of unidentified women and
children on the right.
The
Islamist leader claimed this group is being held hostage in retaliation
for the wives and children of Boko Haram members detained by the
military.
Boko Haram has never before boasted about the kidnapping of Nigerian women and children.
“As long as we do not see our women and children we will never release these women and children,” Shekau said.
The
group set out a similar condition for the release of seven members of a
French family who were kidnapped in February in Cameroon near the
Nigerian border. The Moulin-Fournier family were released last month.
Before claiming the French abductions, Boko Haram had not widely been associated with kidnappings.
Their
attacks, which have killed hundreds since 2009, have included suicide
blasts as well as coordinated gun and bomb assaults on the security
forces and other symbols of authority.
The
recent attacks in the northeast have raised concern about the
increasingly brazen tactics used by the insurgents, who have said they
are fighting to create in Islamic state in mostly Muslim northern
Nigeria.
In
Bama, they stormed the commercial centre in a convoy of seven vehicles,
launching coordinated pre-dawn attacks on the military, police and
several government buildings.
Under
pressure over his apparent inability to contain the violence, President
Goodluck Jonathan created a panel to seek an amnesty deal with the
insurgents.
In his latest video, Shekau re-stated his opposition to any such pact.
“You talk of dialogue…You are free to say whatever you want to say but we will never stop our struggle,” he said.
While
Shekau’s hardcore Islamist loyalists may resist a peace deal, analysts
believe that Boko Haram is fractured, with some camps possibly open to
amnesty.
The Boko Haram conflict is estimated to have cost 3,600 lives since 2009, including killings by the security forces.
The
images of Shekau in the latest video resemble those previously released
by the group and the message was distributed by email, in a manner
consistent with earlier Boko Haram messages.
Nigerian Governors reject State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe, others
The Nigerian Governors Forum has rejected any planned declaration of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and other troubled states.
The governors stated this in a statement by their Chairman, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, on Monday. They advised the federal government to reject any advice to make such a declaration in the troubled states.
“These requests are being made by people who do not wish our country well and who are bent on plunging the country into a deeper crisis,” the governors said.
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