SouthAfrica condemns Nigeria carnage
January 9, 2015, 2:30 pm

The Nigerian military has struggled to stamp out the highly mobile, combat-hardened fighters of Boko Haram, who want to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria [Xinhua]

“The South African Government has today, 9 January 2015, joined the international community in condemning in the strongest possible terms the inhumane and barbaric attacks by Boko Haram against at least 16 towns and villages in the north and north east of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, reportedly killing hundreds of people and thousands sent fleeing into neighbouring countries,” said an official statement on the Foreign Ministry website.

On January 4, Boko Haram seized the town of Baga and the local military base. The group is already controlling 16 neighboring towns, government officials in Nigeria have confirmed.

The Nigerian military has struggled to stamp out the highly mobile, combat-hardened fighters of Boko Haram, who want to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria.

The militants have renewed a killing spree on Thursday since taking control of these towns.

Armed attackers from the militant body began shooting indiscriminately and burning buildings on Tuesday evening in raids on the civilian population that carried on into Wednesday.

Troops operations were currently under review for improving logistics and support for them to defeat the insurgents, Mike Omeri, the coordinator of National Information Center, told a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, while giving an update on the ongoing military operation in the region.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday that recent attacks on Baga and surrounding villages pushed some 7,000 Nigerians to find refuge in neighbouring Chad. The conflict in north-east Nigeria has led to the exodus of 135,000 people since 2013, says the UN.

The violent five-year-old campaign of Boko Haram has been in the international spotlight since the group kidnapped more than 200 girls from a school in the village of Chibok in April.

In 2013, South African President Jacob Zuma announced the creation of the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises, a continental initiative sending out a signal that Africa could be ready to fight its own battles.

France, which is currently battling a terror attack on Parisian streets, has intervened twice in West and Central Africa in the past three years, with more than 6000 troops deployed on the continent.

The former colonial power had set up a regional hub in N’Djamena in Chad, to support and co-ordinate the fight by Nigeria and its neighbours, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, against Boko Haram.

TBP and Agencies