In its effort to keep the general public well informed about the activities of Operation LAFIYA DOLE, the Nigerian Army has established a Media Centre in Maiduguri.

The media centre is based on the directive of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai.

The aim of establishing the media centre is to provide real time and accurate information and to provide avenue for a better interaction with the media, particularly on Military operations in the North East.

Addressing journalists during the commissioning of the center, the Theater Commander Operation LAFIYA DOLE Major General Yusha’ Mahmood Abubakar represented by the General Officer Commanding 7 Division Nigerian Army Major General Lamidi Adeosun, urged the journalists to use the media centre to clear areas they were in doubt, instead of relying on unknown sources to get information on Operation LAFIYA DOLE.

The Theatre Commander also extolled the role of the media in the fight against terrorism and insurgency.

He described the media as key partner in the ongoing efforts of ending terrorism in Nigeria.

Gen Abubakar thanked all the media organizations for educating and informing the populace about the happenings in the theater of operation.

dailypost.ng

The Nigerian Army disclosed last night that it has destroyed another set of 5 terrorist camps operated by the Boko Haram group in Marte Local government area of Borno state .

It will be recalled that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai debunked the Governor’s assertion that some communities in the Local government area were still been controlled by the terrorists group insisting that all Nigerian communities had been liberated.

During the confrontation to clear the camps, the army said its troops killed two Boko Haram terrorists, recovered two dane guns, one double barrel and 12 motorcycles abandoned by the fleeing terrorists.

A statement detailing the army operation, signed by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman said, “In efforts to continually dominate, recover territories and clear all Nigerian territory of Boko Haram vestiges, the advancing troops of 5 Brigade Task Group have today (yesterday) cleared 5 more terrorists camps at Hausari and Baranga in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State.

“The troops during and encounter with Boko Haram terrorists at the camps killed 2 terrorists and recovered 2 Dane guns and a Double Barrel gun, while 12 motorcycles abandoned by some fleeing terrorists were destroyed.

“In addition, a suspected female member of the terrorists group was captured and is currently undergoing interrogation.

“It will be recalled that troops of 5 Brigade had some time last month cleared and destroyed twenty terrorist’s camps at Kerenowa general area.

“In a related development, troops of 28 Task Force Brigade on patrol between Bitta –Yamteke in Borno State to block Boko Haram terrorists fleeing from Lagaran Fulani to enter Sambisa forest, discovered 2 planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and successfully detonated them.

Continuing the statement said, “We wish to state here that, while striving to stamp out terrorists from Nigerian territory, the troops remain committed to ensuring that they cleared and secure all known Boko Haram terrorists’ camps and enclaves so that no terrorist infiltrates and return to any of the recovered areas.”

vanguardngr.com

Kenya is facing a terrible dilemma: Run out of energy for its citizens, or risk terrorists seizing a nuclear power plant.

Last April, four al-Shabaab fighters killed 148 people at Garissa University in northeastern Kenya, just up the street from a major military installation. While students fled, barefoot and in their nightclothes, the soldiers remained on standby, unsure how to respond, and elite police took hours to arrive. In September 2013, the Somalia-based Islamist militants attacked a mall in the heart of Nairobi, killing 67, most of them before any uniformed police or military showed up.

This does not sound like a country that should be getting a nuclear program, even a civilian one. And yet it is, getting an initial thumbs-up How Al-Shabab Could Get Their Hands on a Nuclear Corefrom the International Atomic Energy Agency in August.

Kenya says that it has no choice. By 2030, it will need 20,000 MW of electricity, and the current energy mix can’t meet those needs.

Droughts, getting longer and more frequent, will undermine hydropower plants, which provide more than 50% of the power today. Neighboring Tanzania said earlier this month that it would have to temporarily turn off all its hydropower plants because of low water levels, and plans to reduce its dependence on hydro.

Meanwhile, geothermal energy will top out at a maximum of 10,000 MW—Kenya is unable to capture any more than that. Solar energy will remain part of the mix as well, but not at a scale that can meet the demand. “We have no option but to embrace nuclear early enough to avoid starting the process long after we have exhausted geothermal sources,” said Joseph Njoroge, one of the country’s top energy officials.

So what of the nightmare scenario—a terrorist group seizing control of a nuclear power plant and getting hold of its core? It has been quiet in much of Kenya since the attack on Garissa, but there is a sense here that al-Shabaab is not weaker—just laying low, possibly planning another major attack.

The South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies convened a conference in Nairobi in September on United Nations Resolution 1540, which bans non-state actors from getting their hands on nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. Speaking on the sidelines, Nicolas Kasprzyk, a non-proliferation expert at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies, is confident that Kenya can keep a nuclear facility safe. He thinks public perception, not actual safety, is the big hurdle.

“Clearly more needs to be done to fight this situation with al-Shabaab. How can you build trust in your nuclear program if you’re perceived as not managing to contain the terror threat?” he said. But as proof that Kenya is up to the task, he pointed to its experience protecting medical research facilities with specimens that could easily be turned into biological weapons. There are two level-3 biosafety laboratories (which can handle all but the most lethal diseases) in the vicinity of Nairobi that have been kept secure—both from terrorists and from human error—for years now.

That being said, Kasprzyk pointed out that nowadays it’s the private sector, not government research institutes, that has the most contact with dual-use goods—materials that could be used for peaceful or non-peaceful purposes. And where governments in the region often fall short is proper private-sector oversight, meaning materials might get siphoned off or stolen without government knowledge. Although Kenya has not yet said who will build the nuclear power plant, it’s likely to be a private company.

“The two of them just don’t have a dialogue on proliferation,”Kasprzyk says, referring to the government and private sector. “You can’t exclude that could be diverted… you have a genuine risk,” he said.

defenseone.com

South Sudan’s army and rebel forces have agreed to deploy joint military units in the capital, a key stage of a peace deal aimed to end nearly two years of war.

Both sides have repeatedly traded blame for breaking an August 26 peace deal, the eighth such agreement.

Despite continued fighting, the rivals signed a deal in neighbouring Ethiopia to fix key military sections of the deal, including how many troops each side will have in the capital Juba.

A total of 4,830 troops will be allowed inside Juba. Just over two-thirds of those, or 3,420 men, will come from the government, while the remaining 1,410 will be from the rebels, according to the terms of the deal.

Those forces will include joint guard, military police and national security service units.

The demilitarisation of government-held Juba to allow the return of rebel chief Riek Machar and his entourage is a key provision of the peace agreement.

The deal, signed Tuesday, was witnessed by chief mediator Seyoum Mesfin from the regional IGAD bloc.

The rivals also agreed to deploy joint police units in Juba — with 3,000 in the capital, split equally between the two sides — as well as an 800-strong force in each of the key cities of Bentiu, Malakal and Bor.

Those three cities have been left in ruins after swapping hands repeatedly during the war.

There was no clear time frame for when the troop deployment would take place, and the two sides are already far behind a string of deadlines set up by the August deal.

Civil war broke out in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines.

Tens of thousands have been killed, and UN-backed experts have warned of the “concrete risk of famine” before the end of the year, if fighting continues and aid does not reach the hardest-hit areas.

Both sides are accused of having perpetrated ethnic massacres, recruited and killed children and carried out widespread rape, torture and forced displacement of populations to “cleanse” areas of their opponents.

au.news

Many people, including Somalia’s former director of national intelligence Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, are questioning the capacity of the Somali government to prevent incidents like this week’s deadly attack by al-Shabab militants at a popular Mogadishu hotel.

Fiqi accuses the country’s security forces of taking their eyes off the ball.

“On the part of our troops, even if they are working hard, their strategy is not institutional; their priority is mostly to protect the group in power. They are losing focus in the fight [against Al-Shabab].”

Changing strategy

Fiqi told VOA’s Somali service the militant group is changing its strategy because “their leadership and strength was spread across the country before; but now they have lost those towns and territories, which has given them the opportunity to come together in small areas to unite their leadership and power.”

He said this has allowed the group to carry out specific planned attacks on selective targets such as recent hotel attacks. They have also recently overrun three African Union peacekeepers’ bases and detonated a bomb on the grounds of Somalia’s presidential palace.

Intelligence enhancements

Somali Security Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed told VOA the attackers, all of whom were killed by security forces, were aiming at inflicting heavy casualties to the hotel residents, but Somali security forces were able to intervene early enough to prevent it from happening.”

The minister also said the only way they can prevent such events from happening in the future would be to enhance their intelligence capabilities.
At least 15 people were killed in Sunday’s attack on Sahafi hotel including a former army commander, a member of parliament, and a businessman.

voanews.com

A Somali military official says at least 15 soldiers have been killed in an ambush by fighters from the Islamic extremist rebel group al-Shabaab.

Colonel Ahmed Muse said late on Monday that the ambush took place near Walaweyn, a town in Lower Shabelle region, about 93km south of the capital, Mogadishu.

He said the rebels seized three military vehicles during the ambush.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had killed 30 soldiers, but it was impossible to independently verify the group’s claims.

The attack comes a day after extremists attacked a hotel in Mogadishu, killing at least 12 people and injuring many others before they were killed by security forces.

On 30th October, Channel 4, a UK-based television channel aired a documentary called ‘Frontline Family Reunions’ under its acclaimed ‘Unreported World’ series.  I participated in the making of the documentary, and I simply can’t resist the urge to share the emotional roller-coaster of this exhilarating journey with people who don’t live in the United Kingdom, and may have missed the opportunity to watch the touching documentary.

Let me start with a little bit of context. ‘Family Tracing and Reunification’ (FTR) is a child protection programme funded by UNICEF, UNHCR, Dutch Joint Humanitarian Response, and it is implemented by partners with Save the Children as the lead agency. It is designed to help reunify South Sudanese children who were separated from their families at the height of the war. The producers of Channel 4’s ‘Unreported World’ series picked interest in Save the Children’s FTR work, and they decided to send a television crew to come and join us on this particular reunification journey.

This was a journey with a difference – a journey from foster care in a UN Protection of Civilians (PoC) camp in Bor town, to family warmth in Akobo County in South Sudan’s Jonglei state. It started on Monday, 7th September, and it involved 14 children aged between 2 – 12 years who had been separated from their parents during the chaos and turmoil of war that engulfed South Sudan in December 2013.

The emotional drama started in the capital Juba. As is often the case in conflict contexts, our flight was cancelled at the eleventh hour due to “lack of security clearance” – never mind that we were already in the departure lounge armed with our boarding passes! If the cancellation was a disappointment for me and the television crew, then it must have been an excruciating anti-climax for the 14 anxious children who had been waiting for a whole 20 months for this day to come.

As the gods would have it, it was second time lucky for us, and we made it to Bor – the capital of Jonglei state where the 14 children were impatiently waiting for the helicopter journey into the warmth of their parents’ arms. A qualified Social Worker from Non Violent Peace Force, one of Save the Children’s FTR partners, was on hand to accompany the children for the one and a half hour flight to Akobo. Most of the children slept throughout the flight.

However, as the meandering River Akobo came into clear view, all spirits rose high – including that of the few adults in the aircraft.  All the children who had removed their shoes in order to sleep on the chairs woke up and reached for their shoes and hand luggage.  This was followed by a typical children’s scramble to ‘colonise’ a clear view on the small helicopter windows to enable them identify their parents. “Yes, my Dad…I can see my Dad.  I have not seen him for close to two years”, said one of the children as the helicopter landed for the big reunification moment. How can anyone not be moved by that?

Before the children disembarked, the door area of the aircraft was already crowded by parents waiting for their children. One particular man in a grey shirt and blue trouser caught my eye: He was restless, totally oblivious of other parents, and visibly eager to hug his long-lost children. Even before his children could pick their luggage, he grabbed them and started walking off. I could see that he was trying to put on a brave face, but his emotions overwhelmed him, and a torrent of tears rolled down his face.

As they walked towards a crowd of well-wishers gathered under a nearby acacia tree, his daughter also let loose her emotions and started crying uncontrollably.  My child protection instincts immediately kicked in, and I asked whether anyone had given the little girl some bad news about her family that shocked her. “No, it’s not that she has been informed of some unexpected news, she is just overwhelmed by typical reunification emotions,” said Save the Children’s Social Worker in Akobo.

In most communities in Africa, a child’s welfare doesn’t only concern everyone in the community – it is also everyone’s responsibility. The Akobo community, although afflicted by war, is no different. They all want the best for their children, and to live with their children. “…We want you to increase the effort to bring more children. There are many children – around 2,000, who are still in Bor and Juba,” said Mr. Tot Puy Majok, a respected opinion leader in Akobo.

Sadly, the figure of 2,000 given by Mr. Tot Puy Majok paints an incomplete picture of the ‘Family Tracing and Reunification’ challenge in South Sudan. The truth of the matter is that at present, there are 7,000 separated children on the database who have not yet been reunified with their parents. The same database also has a list of 3,000 parents looking for their missing children. Figures don’t lie, and they are clearly telling us that a lot more needs to be done to help these vulnerable South Sudanese children.

radiotamazuj.org

The Nigerian Army has set free no fewer than 182 Boko Haram suspects from Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Army spokesman, Colonel Sani Usman, who made this disclosure on Sunday, said that the “joint intelligence community investigated and authorised the release of these prisoners.”

According to him, the release was part of Nigeria’s National Army Day, which was held on July 6, to commemorate the first shots of Nigeria’s Civil War at Garaken, Cross River State.

The 40 boys, 24 women, 100 adult men and 18 children prisoners were reportedly released to the state governor over the weekend.

Usman further revealed that the army would provide two days of free medical treatment for Borno State residents, and award Purple Heart and Operation Zaman Lafiya medals to soldiers fighting Boko Haram.

dailypost.ng

Iyad Ag Ghaly, the Malian Tuareg leader of Ansar Dine, has resurfaced with the release of an audio statement in which he threatens France and rejects any peace deal in Mali. The audio was published by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has close ties to Ansar Dine, on one of its official Twitter feeds.

The statement, which has been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, begins by saying Ansar Dine is “combating a new horn from the horns of global disbelief, after the American horn was smashed on the firm rock of jihad. This horn is a result of the French Crusader campaign that brought all its knights and horses, and its slaves and its insane ones against the Shariah of Islam in this land.” He then says that his fighters are fighting to “push away the aggression of the French Crusader assailant.”

Ghaly further claims that the French are “oppressing” the people of Mali and Azawad, the Tuareg name for northern Mali. “Under the domination of the French Crusader invasion, where sanctities are violated, holy sites defiled, fear and horror spread, and the crimes of stealing and looting prevail. It is contrary to what France claimed and continues to claim, and before it, its sister in evil America, in claiming security and stability, and development and construction.” Ghaly then mentions the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris earlier this year, saying, “The case of Charlie Hebdo and its satirical cartoons offensive to the Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, is but a part of that [hatred of Muslims].”

As a result of the “domination” of Muslims by France, Ghaly calls on all people in Mali to “reject the manifestations of fragmentation and division, and disavow the fight of ignorance and its blind banners.” In an obvious reference to the many Tuareg militia groups in northern Mali, he urges “all these movements and names, with their different banners and purposes” to repent and join in the jihad against the French. In addition, Ghaly issues a general call to jihad to the French people, telling would-be recruits, “may your explosive belts respond to them, and your directed devices, and your loud car bombs.” He ends his statement by saying that the Muslims must expel the “Crusaders” to “take revenge for honor of our noble Prophet.”

In discussing the peace agreement signed between rival Tuareg groups and Mali in Algeria in May, Ghaly chastises the Tuaregs for “diverting from the road of Tawhid [monotheism].” He goes on to say that while the deal was meant to bring peace, it “smells of apostasy and disbelief, and treason and cunning.”

Ghaly also sends his “distinguished greetings” to the mujahideen in “Sikasso, Macina, Sevare, Giwanzer, Timbuktu, Kidal, and others from the frontlines of jihad and martyrdom.” Sikasso and Macina, which are in southern Mali, were the scenes of two attacks conducted by Ansar Dine earlier this year. The attacks in southern and central Mali undertaken by the jihadist group were likely executed by its Fulani front, the Macina Liberation Movement. The mention of Sevare is a reference to the hotel siege perpetrated by the jihadist group Al Murabitoon, which is openly loyal to al Qaeda, in early August.

Ghaly is not the only jihadist to have threatened Western forces in Mali this year. A fighter from the aforementioned Al Murabitoon threatened French and Dutch forces in Mali, espousing the same rhetoric as Ghaly. “The time has come to battle the French and the Dutch, to retaliate for your Prophet,” said an Egyptian jihadist affiliated with the group. [For more information, see Threat Matrix report, “Al Murabitoon threatens French, Dutch forces in Mali in new audio.]

Background on Iyad Ag Ghaly and Ansar Dine

Ghaly has had a long history of rebellion in Mali. Before being radicalized, he led a Tuareg rebellion against the government in 1990. In late 2011, Ghaly formed the jihadist group Ansar Dine. During the Tuareg rebellion in 2012, Ansar Dine worked alongside AQIM, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and Tuareg groups to take over the country’s north. The three jihadist groups then quickly pushed the Tuaregs out of the areas that they controlled.

AQIM views Ansar Dine as its local arm in Mali; in a “confidential letter” from Abdelmalek Droukdel, the emir of AQIM, that was found in Timbuktu in early 2013, he instructed his followers to mask their operations and “pretend to be a ‘domestic’ movement” under Ansar Dine so as not to draw international attention and intervention. However, the jihadists’ heavy-handed tactics and violence prompted the French to intervene to help the Malian government take back the north.

Soon after its successful offensive in the north, Ghaly was reportedly seen meeting in Timbuktu with senior AQIM leaders Abu Zeid (who was killed in 2013) and Yahya Abu al Hammam. Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran al Qaeda commander who now leads Al Murabitoon, was also present during the meeting. [For more information on Ghaly, see LWJ report, Ansar Dine leader resurfaces, urges expulsion of France from Mali.]

On Feb. 26, 2013, both the United States and the United Nations added Ghaly to their lists of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The State Departmented noted that he “cooperates closely with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.” [See LWJ report, Emir of Ansar Dine added to US, UN’s terrorist lists.] Ansar Dine itself was identified as a terrorist organization by the US and the UN in March 2013.

Despite the French intervention and the current French-led counterterrorism mission in the region, al Qaeda and its many affiliates in Mali continue to operate. These groups retain the ability to mount rocket, mortar, and IED attacks on UN and French forces. Over 50 UN peacekeepers have been killed in Mali since 2013, making it the most dangerous UN mission in the world.

longwarjournal.org