Curfew in Bauchi, North East Nigeria Over Religious Clash afp20090727614002 Abuja Hot fm in English 26 Jul 09

Confirming the situation while briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, the chairman, Senate Committee on Information and Media said the Senate had resolved to increase provision for internal security in the 2010 budget. The Senate said it would continue to dialogue with security chiefs to ensure that the rising rate of criminal activities in the country is curtailed.

[Description of Source: Abuja Daily Trust Online in English -- Website of the independent pro-North daily; URL: http://www.news.dailytrust.com/]

Yar'Adua Says Government in Control of Sectarian Crisis in Northern Nigeria

AFP20090729583019 Kano Daily Triumph Online in English 29 Jul 09

[Unattributed report: "We're are in Control of Crisis ...Yar'Adua Assures"]

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua said yesterday that the federal government was in control of the Islamic sect crisis in some states in the Northern part of the country.

Yar'adua gave the assurance at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly before he departed for Brazil on a state visit.

The violence was formented by members of Boko Haram, an Islamic group opposed to Western education.

The acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ogbonna Onovo, said on Monday that the trouble started after the police went to investigate an explosion in Bauchi in which some sect members were killed.

In an interview with the State House correspondents, Yar'adua said that he had directed the security chiefs to launch a special operation, particularly in Borno to contain the situation.

``We have the situation under control now and I believe by the end of today everything would have taken shape.

``I have been monitoring the situation in the last few days. By yesterday, the situation in Bauchi state was under control so also the crisis in Kano and Potiskum, Yobe.

``What we have now is a situation in Borno where the leader of the so-called Taliban group is residing and from where most of them migrated to other Northern states,'' he said.

The president said the security agents would launch the main operation immediately.

``I have just finished a meeting with our defence chiefs who have been in constant contact with the governors of Borno, Bauchi, Kano and other states.''

According to him, once the operation in Maiduguri is completed today, we are going to continue with the security surveillance of all the states in the Northern part of the country.

The president said the target was to fish out remnants of the elements and ``deal with them squarely and promptly''.

He decried the situation where a group of people would take the law into their hands and cause insurrection.

``These people have been organising, penetrating our society, procuring arms, learning how to make explosives and bombs to disturb, confuse and force their beliefs on the rest of Nigerians.

``Definitely, our security agencies have been tracking them for years and I believe that the operation we are launching now will be an operation that will contain them once and for all.

``I want to assure this nation that this administration will not tolerate any arms insurrection anywhere and in any part of this country.

``Anywhere any group of people begin to launch arm insurrection and destruction against their fellow Nigerians, they will be dealt with,'' Yar'Adua said.

The president noted that the violence in Bauchi, Kano and Borno was not an inter-religious crisis.

On his visit to Brazil, Yar'Adua said it was to cement bilateral relations, especially in the areas of agriculture and petroleum resources.

[Description of Source: Kano Daily Triumph Online in English -- Website of the Kano State government daily; URL: http://www.triumphnewspapers.com]

Al Jazeera.net Reports on Fighting Between Nigerian Forces, Islamic 'Extremists'

GMP20090729632003 Doha Al Jazeera.net in English 29 Jul 09

[Al Jazeera.net and news agencies report: "Nigeria hunts Islamist fighters"]

Nigerian troops and police are hunting for the remnants of Boko Haram, an Islamist group that went on a killing spree in the country's north.

At least 30 people were killed in fresh clashes between security forces and the group the northern state of Yobe on Wednesday, a police source said.

"Thirty have so far been killed in Hawan Malka," the AFP news agency quoted the source as saying, referring to an area outside Potiskum, Yobe's second largest city.

Wednesday's violence came after the army shelled a mosque and the home of Mohammed Yusuf, the group's alleged leader, in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

"We are not sure whether he has been killed in the shelling or has managed to escape," a police officer said of Yusuf.

Boko Haram opposes western-style education and has said it wants to lead an armed insurrection and rid society of "immorality" and "infidelity".

About 140 people have been killed in three days of violence in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north.

'Under control' Umaru Yar'Adua, Nigeria's president, has vowed that the group will be hunted down and punished.

He said that the military operation currently under way would "contain them once and for all".

"They will be dealt with squarely and forthwith," he said.

Before leaving on a trip to Brazil on Tuesday, Yar'Adua said that the situation was "under control".

But fresh fighting broke out in Maiduguri following the assault on the home of Yusuf.

Dozens of people took shelter from the bombardment in a local police station.

"It is the first time in my life that I hear this kind of mortar shelling," said one man, who had taken cover there, along with his wife and three daughters.

"I thought they targeted my house."

An AFP correspondent reported witnessing soldiers shooting three young men dead at point blank range close to the city's police headquarters.

The men, who had just been arrested, were seen kneeling and pleading for their lives before being shot.

"There has been a serious intensification of the assault on members of this group, Boko Haram, which is behind this wave of killings," Yvonne Ndege, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Abuja, Nigeria's capital, said.

"The president of Nigeria has said that anybody perpetrating violence will be dealt with very, very severely - in fact, that means imminent death," she said.

"If you're caught working among Boko Haram fighters, there is absolutely no question, your life will not be spared."

Deadly rampage Boko Haram, which means "Western education is prohibited" in the local Hausa dialect, has called for the enforcement of sharia or Islamic law, across Africa's most populous nation.

But Nii Akuetteh, the founder of the Democracy and Conflict Research Institute, an African think-tank, told Al Jazeera that, while religious clashes had occurred in the past in Nigeria, the recent clashes appeared to have little political motivation.

"Previously when you had religion rear its head in politics [in Nigeria] you had a clash between Christians mainly in the south and Muslims in the north.

"I think that one you have to talk of the political implications of that, but the most recent, frankly, it seems to me is nothing but religious extremism and violence."

Nigeria's 140 million people are nearly evenly divided between Christians, who dominate the south, and the primarily northern-based Muslims.

Islamic law was implemented in 12 northern states after Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 following years of military rule.

'Religious prejudice' Akuetteh also said that poverty, which has sparked conflict elsewhere in Nigeria, mainly in the oil-rich Niger delta, was not a contributing factor.

"I think religious politicisation of religion in Nigeria is separate and apart from the poverty that is there.

"I would look more to religious prejudice and extremists wanting to inject religion into politics rather than poverty per se."

The clashes began on Sunday in nearby Bauchi state, with fighters attacking police stations, before spilling over into Yobe. Officials said that 55 people were killed in both states.

Residents said fighters armed with machetes, knives, bows and arrows and home-made explosives, attacked police buildings and anyone resembling a police officer or government official in the city.

But most of the casualties appear to have been in Maiduguri, the northeastern city known as the birthplace and stronghold of the group.

[Description of Source: Doha Al Jazeera.net in English -- Website of the Al Jazeera English TV, international English-language news service of Al-Jazirah, independent television station financed by the Qatari Government; URL: http://english.aljazeera.net ]

Nigeria: Yar'Adua Says Army To Begin Operations in Borno Against Islamic Sect

AFP20090729581019 Dakar PANA Online in English 28 Jul 09

[Unattributed report: "Nigeria To Root Out Radical Islamists"]

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Worried by the violence being perpetrated in the northern part of the country by the self-styled Taliban Islamic group, Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua said defence and security forces had been mandated to immediately launch a major operation in a section of the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, to root out the leader and remaining members of the sect.

The President, who confirmed that Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the 'Boko Haram' (We stern education is a sin) group, is residing in that area of Maiduguri, said most members of the sect migrated from all the northern states to (Borno) go and launch a holy war.

Yar'Adua spoke to journalists at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in the capital city of Abuja, just before he left on a three-day official visit to Brazil Tuesday.

The President, who disclosed that he had just finished a meeting with the nation 's defence and security chiefs, said it was the security agencies that first launched a preemptive action against the extremists after "tracking them for years", adding that once the operation in Maiduguri was completed, there would be a continuous security surveillance all over the northern states to fish out any remnants of the group, who are to be deal with "squarely and promptly."

"There has been very serious action. In fact, we have a situation under control now and I believe by the end of today (Tuesday) everything will have taken shape. I have been monitoring this situation in the last few days. By yesterday (Monday), the situation in Bauchi State has been contained completely and the crisis in Kano and Potiskum has also been dealt with.

"What we have now is a situation in Borno State, where the leader of the so-cal led Taliban group is residing and where most of them have migrated from all the northern states to go, prepare and declare the holy war. We are going to launch an operation, the main operation with immediate effect. I have just finished a meeting with our Defence Chiefs, who have been in constant contact with the Governors of Borno, Bauchi, Kano and other (Northern) States,'' the President assured.

Analysts said the group, which has been in existence for about five years, has grown in number, but no one is sure of the total number of its members.

The aim of the group is to impose the Taliban-style strict Islamic Sharia law on the predominantly-Muslim northern states, create a sort of puritanical government to deal with those considered to be 'infidels'

The Nigerian authorities have not given a total figure of those who died in the recent clashes between the sect and the security agencies across four states - Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and Kano.

But the police said 39 sect members were killed in Bauchi state alone, while the local media put the number of those who died in other states at several dozens.

According to the police, about 200 sect members have also been arrested and will soon be prosecuted.

[Description of Source: Dakar PANA Online in English -- Website of the independent news agency with material from correspondents and news agencies throughout Africa; URL: http://www.panapress.com/english/index.htm]

Profile Of Nigeria's Islamist Boko Haram Organization

AFP20090729950089 Caversham BBC Monitoring in English 29 Jul 09

Background briefing by BBC Monitoring on 29 July

The leader of an Islamist group behind attacks on government institutions in northeastern Nigeria has vowed that "war" will continue until "democracy and the current education system is changed" in Africa's most populous nation. The group is reported to be seeking the introduction of Shari'ah (Islamic law) across Nigeria, the website of the privately-owned Nigerian newspaper, Compass Online, reported on 27 July.

Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, who leads Boko Haram (Hausa for Western education is a sin), told the Nigerian independent pro-North Daily Trust newspaper that his group had no ''quarrel with the public, only the authorities, unless the general public supports the authorities''. The whereabouts of Yusuf remain unknown, as government soldiers failed to find him after attacking houses believed to be his home in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State. During the operation they destroyed buildings, including a mosque, the website of the privately-owned Nigerian newspaper, The Guardian, reported on 29 July.

The Lagos-based, privately-owned independent Ray Power 2 radio reported on 28 July that the recent clashes between suspected members of Yusuf's group and joint police-military operations had resulted in 157 deaths in the states of Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and Kano in northern Nigeria.

Attacks, counter attacks

The latest attacks violence in Borno could be linked to an announcement by the police in Maiduguri on 24 July about the arrest of nine members of the group at a training camp in Bama town, Borno, "with 74 empty shells of home-made bombs and other bomb-making components", French news agency, AFP reported. A report published on 27 July by the privately-owned Abuja Punch daily said that Boko Haram attacked the police stations "in retaliation for the arrest of its leaders".

After the police launched attacks against members of Boko Haram in Bauchi, Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf told the Daily Trust website on 27 July that his group would not take kindly to the killing of his supporters. ''We will not agree with this kind of humiliation, we are ready to die together with our brothers and we would never concede to non-belief in Allah," he told the news outlet.

Location of violence

The violence which started in Borno on 26 July has since spread to three other northeastern states, Bauchi, Yobe and Kano. Clashes started after members of Boko Haram attacked the local police headquarters and main prison in Maiduguri. Police in Maiduguri "were taken by surprise on how the armed sect members got entry into the police headquarters", reported the privately-owned Nigerian The Guardian newspaper on 28 July. The newspaper said that other targets of the fundamentalists were government lodges, police checkpoints in Maiduguri and Jere metropolis, and leaders of the Izala Islamic religious groups and their mosques in Maiduguri. The Boko Haram members used sticks, petrol bombs, bows and arrows in the attacks, The Guardian reported.

Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and Kano states are among 12 of Nigeria's 36 states that started a stricter enforcement of Shari'ah in 2000, a decision that has alienated Christian minorities and sparked bouts of sectarian violence that have killed thousands.

Objectives

Members of Boko Haram are "Islamic fundamentalists... fighting against those who have adopted Western values", reported the privately-owned Guardian on 28 July.

A leader of the group that attacked a police station in Kano, Abdulmumuni Ibrahim Mohammed, said the violence was "aimed at the elite who had embraced Western values". According to the paper, Mohammed who hails from Nasarawa State in central Nigeria and "attended secondary school", is opposed to Nigeria's 1999 constitution, and wants it replaced with Shari'ah.

A report on 26 July carried by the privately-owned AIT Television alleged that the group also "plans to eliminate prominent Islamic scholars and imams in Bauchi State". The privately-owned Nigerian Hot FM radio reported on 26 July that the governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Isah Yuguda, had urged other states "to be aware of this deadly group". According to the radio, Boko Haram is "a fundamentalist Islamic sect based in Maiduguri, Borno State, with the agenda of eradicating Western education and value through jihad".

A report aired by the privately-owned Ray Power 2 radio on 27 July alleged that "some of the members [of Boko Haram] have withdrawn from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi". According to the report, "the teachings of the sect are said to be completely contrary to those of other Islamic sects on peaceful coexistence".

The privately-owned Nigerian Compass Online alleged on 26 July that Boko Haram members have "questioned the rationale behind the introduction of compulsory education in the state, saying the people should be given freedom to choose and practice their religion the way they dim [sic, deem] fit".

French news agency AFP reported on 27 July that the group's current strength is "not publicly known" and their "goal is to impose up a strict form of shari'ah and set up a 'pure Islamic' state in northern Nigeria".

In an interview with AFP in February 2005, one of the sect's leaders, Aminu Tashen-Ilimi, said the group's aim was to establish an Afghan Taleban-styled puritanical Islamic government through armed insurrection and cleanse the society of "immorality" and "infidelity".

The acting inspector-general of police, Ogbonna Onovo, has described Boko Haram as "a fanatical organization that is anti-government, anti-people. We don't know what their aims are yet. We are out to identify and arrest their leaders and also destroy their enclaves wherever they are, wherever they may be seen". (AFP 27 July)

Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf told the Daily Trust website on 27 July: ''Democracy and the current system of education must be changed otherwise this war that is yet to start would continue for long... It is not with our strength that we will confront the authorities but with the help of Allah,'' he added.

Membership

The Nigerian Guardian newspaper reported on 28 July that some of the members who attacked the Wudil Police Station in Kano were "nationals of neighbouring Chad".

A police official in Kano said "a sizable number of the fundamentalists most of whom are teenagers, hail from Kano and Borno states".

The assistant inspector-general of police (AIG) in charge of Zone 12 in Bauchi, Moses Anegbode, has described the Boko Haram as "a criminal group who are parading themselves in the name of religion". According to Anegbode, the group is "a threat to peace", the Guardian reported on 28 July.

Anegbode said Boko Haram "forbids anything Western, yet their leader has an array of Western materials in their possession and usage. Even the phone, SUVs; I wonder if they were made by him [the Boko Haram leader]. They are notorious for kidnappings, raping, intimidation and molestation and known to be anti-establishment".

The claim by members of group that they are against Western values and education has added to the mystery surrounding the group. If the agenda of the organization was to fight Western ideals, it is thought that they would be promoting local traditions and values, but that does not seem to be the case.

Bases

Leadership

According to a report carried on The Guardian website on 28 July, the Boko Haram is led by Mohammed Yusuf, who is a cleric. Not much is available in the media about Yusuf, or local leadership of the group.

Nigerian Taliban?

The French news agency, AFP, described the group on 27 July as "Nigeria's 'Taleban'". According to the agency, the group "made its formal debut in 2004" and had been preceded by "elements of extremism... in pockets of neighbourhoods of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in 2002".

In January 2004, some 200 young Muslim "extremists", including women and children set up a camp at Kanamma village in Yobe State, on Nigeria's border with Niger, which they named Afghanistan. They named themselves the Taliban, "drawing inspiration from the Afghanistan group of the same". However, local people refer to them as "Boko Haram" (Hausa for "Western education is sin"), AFP reported on the same day.

The group briefly took control of Kanamma and raided several police stations in the area, but was later dispersed by government troops, during "which scores were killed, many were arrested while the rest went underground", added AFP. Survivors later launched "guerrilla attacks" on police stations in Borno's Gwoza area, near the border with Cameroon, killing police officers and residents; the attackers retreated to the Mandara Mountains, on the Nigerian-Cameroon border. Since then, added AFP, the group has waged on-and-off attacks often with long breaks in between. A two-day battle in 2005 left 28 "Taleban" dead and scores arrested.

President Yar'Adua

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on 27 July directed that no effort should be spared in identifying, arresting and prosecuting leaders and members of the extremist sect involved in the attacks.

[Description of Source: Caversham BBC Monitoring in English -- Monitoring service of the BBC, the United Kingdom's public service broadcaster]

Nigeria: Islamist Militants Said To Have Captured 'Five Areas' in Maiduguri

AFP20090729617003 London BBC World Service in English 1706 GMT 29 Jul 09

[From "Focus on Africa" hosted by Sophie Ikenye; all sentences as heard]

[Ikenye] We begin in the northeast of Nigeria where security forces are asking for reinforcement from neighboring states as they battle to flush out fighters connected to the Islamic group, Boko Haram, for a second day. The militants, who are reportedly inspired by the Taliban, are against what they call the corrupting influence of the West and Western education. Trouble began in the State of Bauchi on Sunday [ 26 July] but it shifted to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. Today, the police and army made a concerted effort to crush the militants but they are meeting with stiff resistance. A short while ago, the BBC's Bilkisu Babangida told me the latest from the city.

[Begin recording] [Babangida] Right now in Maiduguri, just now, the Borno State Government has announced that there are some areas that the militants have taken over in the Maiduguri town, that those residing in those five areas should stay indoors and those living outside the areas should stay away from the areas because the militants have already taken over the place. They are already, you know, destroying and burning down vehicles and houses and then taking people around those areas hostage.

[Ikenye] Why are the militants doing this?

[Babangida] From the reports we receive from the security is that it is like since yesterday when the securities are trying to shell the area where the leader and his people are residing, it is making things difficult for them because more and more militants are coming from neighboring states and some parts of Borno State to, you know, assist them with some weapons. That is what is making things difficult for the military and the police officers to curtail the problem that is going on right now.

[Ikenye] And how is the security force responding to all this?

[Babangida] Well, the security, now, they are on top of the ... [Babangida pauses] they are trying to see that they would be on top of the situation but it seems like they are calling for more security from neighboring states to come and assist them because of the large number of these militants that are coming from different directions which they could not even tell from where they are coming.