U.S ADDS FIRST BOKO HARAM MEMBERS TO 'TERRORIST' LIST

Imam Abubakar Mohammed Shekau, Boko Haram leader

WASHINGTON
June 21 (Reuters)

The United States on Thursday named three alleged leaders of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram as “foreign terrorists”, the first time it has blacklisted members of the Islamist group blamed for attacks across Africa’s most populous nation.

The State Department identified the
three as Abubakar Shekau, who it called
the “most visible” leader of the group,
and Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid
al-Barnawi, who it said were tied both to Boko Haram and to al Qaeda’s north African wing.

“Under Shekau’s leadership, Boko Haram
has claimed responsibility for numerous
attacks in northern Nigeria, its primary
area of operation. In the last 18 months,
Boko Haram or associated militants have killed more than 1,000 people,” the State Department said in an announcement. “These designations demonstrate the United States’ resolve in diminishing the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks,” it said.

The action by the State and Treasury
departments, first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, follows growing pressure on the Obama Administration to take stronger action against Boko Haram,which has stepped up attacks on Christian places of worship this year in its drive to establish an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.

U.S. officials say the decision to list
individual Boko Haram members, rather
than apply the more sweeping “Foreign
Terrorist Organization” label to the group as a whole as some U.S. lawmakers have demanded, reflected a desire not to elevate the group’s profile. The action freezes any assets the three
men have in the United States, and bar
U.S. persons from any transactions with
them.

RISING PRESSURE

The United States has signaled growing
concern over Islamist extremist groups
operating in Africa, particularly al Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has expanded its influence in the lawless Sahel region and funds operations by collecting kidnap ransoms or siphoning off the drug trade.

The United States has also sought to curb the influence of al Shabaab, the militant group which has seized control of large areas of south and central Somalia and has been blamed for attacks elsewhere in east Africa. Both AQIM and al Shabaab are already on
the official U.S. list of foreign terrorist
organizations, which makes them key
targets in the U.S. anti-terrorism
campaign.

The State Department has been under
pressure to act against Boko Haram for
months. In January, Lisa Monaco, the Justice Department’s top national security official, sent a letter to the State Department arguing that the Nigerian group met the criteria for a “foreign terrorist” listing because it either engages in terrorism that threatens the United States or has a capability or intent to do so.

Boko Haram increasingly is seen as a
potent threat to Nigeria, the continent’s
most populous state and major oil
producer, and as part of growing arc of
Islamist extremist groups stretching
across northern Africa. Republican senators led by Scott Brown of
Massachusetts have introduced legislation requiring the State Department to determine whether Boko Haram should be designated as a terrorist group.

Republican Representative Patrick
Meehan, who chairs a Homeland Security
subcommittee in the House, also
introduced an amendment that would
force the administration to add Boko
Haram to the terrorism list or explain why it was not doing so. But a group of academic experts on Africa sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month urging her not to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist group, saying such a move could backfire by enhancing the group’s reputation among potential recruits and other militants.

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