Reunion Wire

The United States is monitoring reports militants aligned with Boko Haram are taking over communities in north-central Nigeria, part of what appears to be an attempted revival by the al-Qaida-linked terror group.

Officials in Nigeria’s Niger state have been warning of Boko Haram activity for months, recently claiming that the group’s fighters are present in more than 500 villages across eight of the state’s 25 wards.

“They tell local people that they are not fighting with them but with government and its institutions,” Suleman Chukuba, an official with the Shiroro local government, told VOA.

“They are saying only Islamic education is allowed…They also use bombs to attack people,” he added, noting the terror group’s flag has been raised in a growing number of villages. “These are Boko Haram’s ways of operation.”

But U.S. officials are leery of drawing any conclusions given the fast-evolving terror landscape, which has seen the fortunes of Boko Haram and its Islamic State-aligned rival, IS West Africa, rise and fall multiple times over the past several months.

“The United States is aware of reports that Boko Haram militants are present in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.

“Boko Haram has terrorized civilian populations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger for more than a decade,” the spokesperson said, adding the U.S., “will continue to seek to help further develop the capabilities of the Nigerian security services to respond to these threats.”

U.S. intelligence officials are also concerned.

“Boko Haram’s remaining elements continue to be a threat to local communities,” one official told VOA, requesting anonymity in order to discuss the information.

So far, Nigerian officials have sent some military and police units to Niger state to help, though local officials say it is not enough to combat what they see as a growing threat.

One factor that could be boosting Boko Haram’s current efforts are reports that the leader of IS West Africa is dead, potentially giving Boko Haram the time and space to rebuild.

Nigeria’s military announced the death of Abu Musab al-Barnawi last week (October 14) though U.S. officials cautioned previous reports of the IS West Africa leader’s death had proven to be unfounded.

Yet even if al-Barnawi is dead, Boko Haram is likely to still face significant challenges as it attempts to regroup.

“Their resources continue to be drained by ongoing clashes with ISIS-West Africa, some fighters’ attempts to disengage from the battlefield, and continued counterterrorism pressure from Nigerian security forces,” the intelligence official told VOA, using another acronym for Boko Haram’s IS-aligned rival.

U.S. officials also tell VOA that Boko Haram was hit hard earlier this year by the death of its leader, Abubakar Shekau, following his capture by IS West Africa.

Even though some high-level Boko Haram commanders managed to escape the IS West Africa assault, the defeat led to mass defections, whittling Boko Haram’s fighting force to as few as 500 fighters.

“They are definitely on their back foot,” a U.S. military official, who like the other U.S. officials requested anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told VOA.

The official, who described Boko Haram’s recent setbacks as significant, also said there are questions about how effectively the group can recruit as it attempts to overcome something of a leadership vacuum.

“[Boko Haram] was significantly driven by Shekau and his leadership,” the official said, noting the group’s command and control is “not as cohesive as it was.”

Some analysts who study Boko Haram also have doubts about the group’s ability to rebound, despite reports of ongoing, low-level clashes with IS West Africa.

“There are still remnants,” James Barnett, a research fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja, told VOA. “But it’s difficult to gauge at this point whether those remnants are coalescing into a cohesive, smaller insurgency.”

“The best evidence now points to Boko Haram being, at best, a very marginal player for the near term,” he added.

Source: Voice of America

Nigerian separatist Nnamdi Kanu has pleaded not guilty to charges brought against him by authorities. The leader of secessionist group The Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, was captured in Kenya in June and repatriated to Nigeria to face trial.

The start of the trial in Federal High Court on Thursday was the first time Kanu has been seen in public since he was captured in late June.

Kanu was brought to an Abuja courtroom by state security agents in a heavily guarded convoy. The trial began shortly afterward but journalists, lawyers and supporters were denied access to the courtroom.

Kanu is charged with terrorism, treason, involvement with a banned separatist movement, inciting public violence through radio broadcasts, and defamation of Nigerian authorities through broadcasts.

Kanu denies the allegations, and his lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, told reporters the dismissal of charges is being sought.

“We’re challenging the seven-count amended charge.” Ejiofor said. “Once the court hears it and rules in our favor, that’s the end of the case and he’ll walk out of court a free person.”

Justice Binta Nyako adjourned the trial to November 10 and declined an application by Kanu’s counsel for the defendant to be transferred to a correctional facility in Abuja, where he’d be more accessible, instead of the state security custody.

The IPOB, led by Kanu, wants the southeastern region of Biafra to break away from Nigeria. An attempt to separate in 1967 triggered a civil war that killed more than one million people, mostly Biafrans.

Nigerian authorities consider the IPOB’s activities to be a threat and banned the group in 2017.

But the IPOB continued to win supporters, especially in the southeastern region, where the movement is most active.

The IPOB has launched a security arm, the Eastern Security Network, ESN, which authorities blame for unrest in the region and the killing of more than 120 people this year.

The IPOB has denied the allegations. Public affairs analyst Abu Mohammed, a supporter of the separatist movement, said the Nigerian government’s failures are motivating separatists.

“Today they’re calling for another system of government that may not work and that is why people are agitating,” Mohammed said. “If we’re supposed to get to so-so place and we haven’t gotten there, definitely there should be separation for us to go because maybe we have our vision.”

Southeastern Nigeria was largely shut down on Thursday after the IPOB called for a “sit-at-home” strike to show solidarity with Kanu.

Source: Voice of America

Ethiopian forces carried out an airstrike Friday on the city of Mekelle, their fifth on the Tigray regional capital since Monday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties following Friday’s airstrike, which witnesses say hit a farmer’s field near a fenced off area on the eastern side of Mekelle University.

A U.N. humanitarian flight bound for Mekelle had to turn back in mid-air to Addis Ababa Friday because of the airstrike, according to Gemma Connell, head of the regional office for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Connell said this week’s airstrikes and recent fighting in Tigray have had major consequences because not a single aid truck has entered the embattled northern Ethiopian region since Monday.

Ethiopia’s state-owned Fana Broadcasting Corporation reported Friday’s airstrike targeted military training spots used by Tigrayan forces.

“Another one of the terrorist group TPLF’s [Tigray People’s Liberation Front] training sites has been the target of air strikes today,” said the report, which cited the website Ethiopia Current Issue Fact Check, a pro-government initiative.

“This site was ENDF’s [Ethiopian National Defense Force’s] training center before being appropriated by TPLF for military training of illegal recruits. It is also serving as a battle network hub by the terrorist org.”

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said the airstrikes are a last ditch effort to turn the tide in the conflict between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government, which has raged on for nearly a year.

“They are desperate on the war front,” he said, speaking to Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location. “My interpretation is they are bombing us because they are losing on the ground and it’s their reprisal. The fact that they are bombing shows they don’t care about Tigrayan civilians.”

On Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that three children were among those killed in this week’s attacks.

The airstrike Thursday that targeted Mesfin Industrial Engineering, an equipment manufacturing company, injured 15 people, who are receiving medical help at Mekelle’s flagship Ayder Referral Hospital, according to Girmay Legas, the director of the emergency room at the hospital, who spoke to VOA’s Tigrigna Service.

“There are many who were seriously injured, especially two of the people who had to go straight into the operating room right after they were admitted,” Girmay said. “We have a five-year-old child among the 15 injured and one of the injured was pregnant and she is receiving care to find out the condition of the child.”

Girmay said most of those admitted to the hospital had “serious physical injuries,” and said the hospital did not have enough medical equipment and medicine to help the victims.

Biniam Kassa was one of those injured. “Mesfin industrial’s work focuses on normal projects like transportation but I don’t know why and in what case it was targeted,” he said. “Only thing I can say at this moment is that only civilians were attacked but nothing else.”

Filimone Yohannes was another person injured and underwent surgery on his right leg. He says the attack happened while they were in the middle of work.

“I was injured on my knee and couldn’t stand up but pulled myself to move a bit further until people came and lifted me up and brought me here [Ayder hospital] in an ambulance. I am not sure how people will go back to work and might lose their jobs and won’t be able to feed themselves if they don’t have work, people will be displaced. If you are bombarded in your place of work, how would you go back to work? How can you work?”

Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that the military is making precise aerial attacks and making every effort to avoid civilian casualties.

“We confirm and assure these surgical operations have no any intended harm to civilians,” Legesse wrote.

He added that Tigrayan forces have used civilian facilities for military purposes. “They have been adept at hiding munitions and heavy artillery in places of worship and using ordinary Tigrayans as a human shield,” he wrote. “The purpose of the air strikes was just to deter the damages and atrocities the TPLF terrorist group plan[n]ed to make on the social well-being of the country and citizens.”

The Tigray conflict began almost a year ago between Ethiopian troops and the TPLF, which governed Ethiopia for three decades but now rules only the northern Tigray region.

Mekelle has not seen large-scale fighting since June, when Ethiopian forces withdrew from the area and Tigray forces retook control of most of the region. Following that, the conflict continued to spill into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

Last week, Tigray forces said the Ethiopian military had launched a ground offensive to push them out of the Amhara region and to recapture territory lost to them several months ago.

VOA Tigrigna Service’s Mulugeta Atsbeha contributed to the report from Mekelle. VOA’s Margaret Besheer contributed to the report from the United Nations.

Source: Voice of America

Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch:

Airstrikes target Mekelle

The Ethiopian government launched a series of airstrikes this week on Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, one of which forced a U.N. aid flight to turn around midair.

New provocations from DPRK

North Korea has continued to test-fire missiles, spurring the United States, Britain and France to call a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

Africa hardest hit by climate change

A new U.N. climate report says the African continent is warming faster and to a higher temperature than other parts of the world, despite being responsible for less than 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Human rights discussions

The U.N. General Assembly’s third committee had its annual briefings Friday from the special rapporteurs on the human rights situations in North Korea and Myanmar.

News in brief

— UNICEF said Tuesday that 10,000 children have been killed or maimed in Yemen since fighting started in March 2015. That is the equivalent of four children every day. And that is the number of cases the U.N. children’s agency has been able to verify; the real number is likely higher.

— UNICEF said the numbers of women (71) and children (30) kidnapped for ransom in Haiti in the first eight months of 2021 have surpassed the totals for all of 2020. The overwhelming majority of abductees are Haitians and are taken in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

— The U.N. Security Council has set off on its first field mission since before the pandemic. The 15 members are heading to Mali and Niger through Tuesday. They are checking on Mali’s transition and discussing terrorism, the effects of climate change in the Sahel and other issues with leaders, civil society and U.N. country teams.

— U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the U.N. Security Council separately welcomed the declaration of a unilateral cease-fire on October 15 by President Faustin Archange Touadéra in the Central African Republic. That country has been trying to restore state authority after years of intercommunal violence and territory grabs by armed groups.

Some good news

The United Nations said a national house-to-house polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan will resume November 8, after a three-year halt, with the support of the Taliban authorities.

Quote of note

“Today, women’s leadership is a cause. Tomorrow, it must be the norm,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday on the 21st anniversary of Resolution 1325, which demands the full and equal participation of women in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction.

Next week

The G-20 meets in Rome ahead of a critical U.N. climate conference in Scotland in early November. On Tuesday, the U.N. General Assembly will hold its own pre-conference high-level session on delivering climate action.

Did you know?

U.N. peacekeepers are called “blue helmets” because of the color of their berets and helmets. There are more than 87,000 peacekeepers from 121 countries currently deployed in a dozen missions. Their missions are authorized by U.N. Security Council resolutions to protect civilians and strengthen security in post-conflict and fragile states.

Source: Voice of America