IS-linked group says Boko Haram leader in Nigeria is dead

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 10 June 2021

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By HARUNA UMAR and SAM OLUKOYA, AP 09 June 2021

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — The leader of Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has killed himself, according to a jihadi organization linked to the Islamic State group.

An audio recording purportedly from Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, said Shekau detonated explosives killing himself after a battle between the two groups.

The audio message follows media reports last month that Shekau, one of Africa’s most wanted men, blew himself up to evade capture by ISWAP fighters.

Neither Nigerian authorities nor Boko Haram have confirmed Shekau’s death.

There had been several false reports about Shekau’s death in the past, with Shekau later appearing in videos to refute them.

Al-Barnawi, a son to the founding leader of Boko Haram, the late Mohammed Yusuf, made the statement in an audio message heard this week by The Associated Press in the native Kanuri language.

The audio message, which last about 28 minutes, had what is reportedly al-Barnawi’s voice, lacing his speech with quotes from the verses of the Quran. The audio was obtained from a former jihadist who provides intelligence to the government and is familiar with al-Barnawi’s voice.

“He never thought this would happen to him even in his dream, but by the power of God we destabilized him; he became confused and fled to forest where he spent five days, wandering and stranded,” he said. “We followed him again where we faced him with heavy fire. He ran away, then our troops called on him to surrender so that he would be punished.”

Shekau was asked to surrender in order to be pardoned or reinstalled as a leader.

“We kept assuring him that we were not out to kill him, but he refused. To him it’s better to die than to surrender,” he said.

He went out to describe Shekau as “a defiant and corrupt leader” whose fighters were celebrating instead of mourning his death.

“This was someone who committed unimaginable terrorism. How many has he wasted? How many has he killed? How many has he terrorized?” he said.

ISWAP broke off from Boko Haram in 2016 following a dispute between Shekau and al-Barnawi. Both jihadi groups have also been fighting each other over territory since they fell out.

The Nigeria-based Boko Haram has been waging a bitter war against Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad since 2009.

Boko Haram under Shekau’s leadership has carried out numerous suicide bombings targeting markets, crowded bus stations, churches, mosques and media houses. A Boko Haram bombing in 2011 at the U.N. building in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, killed 21 people and wounded 60 others.

Boko Haram attacks on towns and villages mainly in northeast Nigeria have left tens of thousands of people dead and displaced more than 2.3 million others.

In February 2014, Boko Haram killed 59 male students in an attack at the Federal Government College Buni Yadi. Two months later, the group shocked the world when it abducted 276 teenage schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. Shekau appeared in a video saying that the girls would be forced into marriage because girls as young as 9 are suitable for marriage. While many of the girls have either escaped or been released, 112 of them are still missing.

The Boko Haram leader was notorious for using underage boys as child soldiers, while underage girls and young women have been used as suicide bombers in recent years.

Some gruesome Boko Haram videos have shown captives, including security personnel, aid workers and others, executed — sometimes by beheading.

Shekau had bounties on his head, with a reward of up to $7 million offered by the United States in 2012.

If indeed Shekau, the driving force behind Boko Haram, has died, that will likely weaken Boko Haram and make it possible for ISWAP to take over vast territories under Boko Haram control in Nigeria’s northeastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.

A stronger ISWAP will be bad news for the Nigerian military, as the group appears to constitute a greater threat against the Nigerian army, carrying out attacks on highly fortified military bases.

Many attribute ISWAP’s recent successes to new tactics of buying over the local population with food and money.

Grave concerns over 'dire' and deteriorating situation in war-torn Tigray region

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 29 May 2021

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NEW YORK - UN humanitarians expressed deep concern on Friday about serious and ongoing abuses carried out against displaced civilians who are also facing dire food insecurity in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, after months of conflict.

In an alert, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said that it was aware of “gross violations”, including gender-based violence in the war-torn north.

Vile attacks

“The situation of women and adolescent girls in Tigray and border areas of Amhara and Afar remains dire”, said UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem. “We see alarming levels of sexual violence, and thousands of women lack access to health and protection services.”

In a related development, the Office of the High Commissioner for refugee agency (UNHCR) condemned the reported abduction of “at least several hundred” youths from camps for displaced people in Tigray earlier this week.

This echoed prior comments by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Catherine Sozi, who condemned the reported arbitrary arrests, beatings and ill-treatment by soldiers of more than 200 people during night-time military raids on internal displacement camps in the region on Monday.

Ms. Sozi noted that the affected sites of Tsehaye and Adi Wonfito in Shire town were home to 12,000 internally displaced persons in total.

Trauma and distress

“The situation is traumatic and distressing, not only for the relatives of the missing, but for all the displaced communities residing in Shire”, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists in Geneva, adding that the agency was in contact with the Ethiopian authorities on the issue. “It is crucial that all parties to the conflict recognize the civilian and humanitarian character of these sites hosting displaced people”.

Fighting began in Tigray on 4 November last year between national Government forces and regional power brokers loyal to the former national ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Needs are growing

Some parts of the war-torn region have remained accessible but overall, “grave” needs are outstripping capacity, with most rural areas “cut from communications and electricity”, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The Central Area – which is the most populated, with some 1.8 million people –remains largely inaccessible, Ms. Sozi’s team noted.

If nothing is done to improve aid access immediately, UN humanitarians believe that there is a high risk of mass severe acute malnutrition looming in the next few months.

Characterizing the situation as “complex and unpredictable”, OCHA said that civilians, who continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, have been forced to move to towns including Shire, Axum and Adwa.

“The main road between Adigrat and Axum was blocked from 10 to 22 April due to hostilities, impacting several humanitarian convoys, including emergency food aid, as well as the provision of medical supplies to Axum and Adwa Hospitals”, the UN humanitarian body reported.

Release call

In her appeal for the immediate release of those arbitrarily arrested from Shire’s displacement camps, Ms. Sozi said that serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law must be promptly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.
“We, along with our partners, are ready to engage with military commanders to ensure the protection of civilians”, the Humanitarian Coordinator said on Thursday.

Lava destroys homes in DR Congo after volcanic eruption

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 24 May 2021

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KINSHASA -  Lava from a volcanic eruption in DR Congo has destroyed homes on the outskirts of Goma but the city of two million has been mostly spared after thousands fled in the night.

Residents said there was little warning before the dark sky turned a fiery red, leading to fears that the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo could cause the same kind of devastation as the last time in 2002 when hundreds died.

There was no official word on deaths or injuries amid the scramble to flee the city late on Saturday.

The UN peacekeeping mission said that it did not appear the lava was flowing towards Goma based on reconnaissance flights but untold thousands still set off in search of safety.

Some boarded boats on to Lake Kivu while others attempted to reach Mount Goma, the highest point in the area. At least 3,000 fled across the nearby border into Rwanda.

On Sunday, residents ventured out to assess the damage after a night of panic. Smoke rose from smouldering heaps of lava in the Buhene area near the city.

“We have seen the loss of almost an entire neighbourhood,” said Innocent Bahala Shamavu. “All the houses in Buhene neighbourhood were burned and that’s why we are asking all the provincial authorities and authorities at the national level as well as all the partners, all the people of good faith in the world, to come to the aid of this population.”

Elsewhere, witnesses said lava had engulfed a highway connecting Goma with the city of Beni. However, the airport appeared to be spared the same fate as 2002 when lava flowed on to the runways.

Goma is a regional hub for many humanitarian agencies in the region, as well as the UN peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO.

While Goma is home to many UN peacekeepers and aid workers, much of surrounding eastern DR Congo is under threat from a myriad of armed groups vying for control of the region’s mineral resources.