Friday, May 16, 2014

A SAD TESTIMONY FROM THE POLICE ... TELLING OTHERS WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW BUT WON'T LISTEN TO THEM : Nigeria: Police Not Equipped To Fight Boko Haram ... Nigerian police tell Sky News they are ill-equipped to face Boko Haram as the president travels to Paris to discuss the crisis ... SkyNews

Nigeria police
Police in Chibok are said to be frustrated and demoralised
Police in Chibok have said they are not equipped to deal with another Islamist attack like the one which resulted in the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls.
Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is in Chibok, said that despite an increased security presence, police felt under-equipped to serve as any sort of meaningful deterrent against further attacks.
She said one officer told her he felt unable to enter into a combat situation with the militants, many of whom are armed with heavy machinery and rocket propelled grenades.
It has been over a month since more than 200 girls were seized by the militants.
Residents in Chibok, in Nigeria's northern Borno state, say they are in constant fear of further attacks, with abductions and killings taking place in the region on a regular basis.
Screengrab of video released showing some of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls
The girls appeared in a video released by Boko Haram last week
Nigerian authorities are accused of being powerless in the face of the Islamist threat and too slow to respond to the schoolgirls' abduction.
Frustration with the government rose further on Friday when President Goodluck Jonathan cancelled a visit to the region.
It was reported that his security team had advised him against a visit to Chibok on the basis that it was too dangerous.
Crawford said the families of the missing girls were "very upset and very angry" at the president's last-minute decision to pull out.
160514 CUP CRAWFORD NIGERIA
Parents have criticised the government's handling of the abduction
She said: "As one father of an abducted girl told me: 'If it's not safe enough for the president of Nigeria to come to Chibok, how on earth does he feel about us residents of Chibok living here?'"
The president instead flew directly from the capital Abuja to Paris where he is due to take part in a summit with the leaders of Nigeria's neighbouring states later today.
Representatives from Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin will all take part in the half-day meeting aimed at forging a joint strategy to overcome the militants.
Ahead of the summit, one French diplomat said: "Boko Haram represents a risk to the stability of every state in the region, and the leaders of these countries have to be aware of that."
Goodluck Jonathan speaks during a session at World Economic Forum in Davos
The Nigerian president is seeking a regional strategy to tackle Boko Haram
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and US Secretary of State John Kerry are also scheduled to attend the meeting hosted by French President Francois Hollande.
Britain, the US and France are all taking part in the search for the missing schoolgirls.
Nothing was seen of the girls until last week when Boko Haram released a video appearing to show a group of about 100 of them who the group said had converted to Islam.
Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau said the girls would not be released until detained militants of the group were freed from prison.
The Nigerian government has reportedly ruled out negotiations on a prisoner swap.

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