19/02/2012
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AFP)
Seven French tourists from one family,
including four children, were kidnapped
Tuesday in northern Cameroon by men
suspected of belonging to a terrorist
group in Nigeria, French President
Francois Hollande said.
He was informed that the tourists were
seized by a Nigerian “terrorist group that we know well”, Hollande told reporters while on a visit to Athens.”What is most probable is they will be
taken to Nigeria,” he said, adding France was doing everything possible to prevent that outcome. A source close to the French embassy in Yaounde had earlier said that unidentified men, apparently on motorbikes, had captured the seven tourists in the locality of Dabanga near the Nigeria border.”Clearly the tourists were returning from the Waza natural park,” the source said.
An anonymous source in the park said the tourists visited it on Monday. “They slept in the park’s tourist camp where they left this morning,” the source said. A security source in the area told AFP that security forces were hunting for the
kidnappers the length of the border with
Nigeria.
It’s the first time that Western tourists
have been kidnapped in Cameroon,although hostage taking frequently occurs off the Cameroonian coast, the last incident dating back to February 8.In December, French engineer Francis
Collomp was kidnapped in Nigeria in an
act claimed by the Nigerian radical
Islamist group Ansaru.
Beegeagle's Blog 
“It is a local Nigerian problem. Nail thr rotten political elite. Allow them to stew in their own juice” The plot thickens.
Elsewhere, BEEGEAGLE WROTE;
Elsewhere, BEEGEAGLE WROTE
QUOTE
” There are some people in the libertarian community, fixated with engineering a Nigeria Spring revolution, who would go to any length to deny BH linkages to regional terrorist groups. To them, the only way to force change in Nigeria is to pretend that BH are rebels with a cause.
The same people who love to mouth off about haven spoken to experts and authorities and love to claim impartiality have ignored the following
– TIME magazine say BH train in the mountains of Mali (Sept 2011)
– 100 BH militants led the attack which resulted in the seizure of Gao from the Malian Army (AFP reported April,2012)
– The AQIM leader, speaking to Al Jazeera in June 2011 following the suicide attack on Police HQ, admitted that AQIM support BH with training and finance
– In November 2011, Algeria’s Minister for Maghrebian and African Affairs confirmed the AQIM-BH collabo
– In January 2012, Messrs Bazoum and Maiga, the Foreign Ministers of Niger and Mali openly affirmed BH activity via collaboration with local terrorist groups in their respective countries
– Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Algeria met at a regional counterterrorism in Nouakchott with Nigeria attending as guests on account of the fact confirmed linkages between BH and terrorists groups active in Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Niger.
– General Carter Ham who, when it suits their unclear purpose would be an eminently qualified ‘expert’, has an intelligence gathering machinery at his disposal on account being US AFRICOM Commander, has stated copiously that BH and AQIM are cooperating. Our foreign media antagonists feign ignorance of that fact because it is counterpoised to their own designs of forcing regime change in the name of good governance and sundry rights – open society they call it. Well, look at open Libya now without Gaddafi.
– were this Financial Times report related to a scandal, it would not have gone unnoticed by you know who. But because their Hausa Service is a tool of the CPC party, they do not want the FG to fight BH at home and abroad which would speed up the decimation of the group to the credit of President Jonathan’s government, since that would up the regime’s popularity ratings thereby making it harder to dislodge him from power at the 2015 presidential polls.
That is why they are in total denial, even in the face of overwhelmingly NON Nigeria-derived evidence. All of those who have affirmed AQIM-BH-ANSARU ties would, on another day and in different circumstances be held up as “EXPERTS”.
Now that an affirmation of their authoritative proclamations would expose BH as terrorists rather than victims of bad governance which apologists and liberals pretend that they are, it is convenient to downplay the transnational nuisance which they represent. ”
END OF QUOTE
Let the lies continue.
Dabanga, Kousseri, Amchide, Fotokol, Mora, Waza have all been noted for NIGERIAN terrorist activity before now. They are all used as rear bases by Boko Haram.
Right now, the emphasis on ‘we know them’ as stated by President Hollande could mean ANSARU who have made it clear that they are active in solidarity with Malian terrorists and are in on the global jihadist agenda.
These parts ordinarily fall within the area where BH operate. Until the kidnapping last weekend at Jama’are just inside NE Nigeria, ANSARU have stayed out of these areas..operating mainly in NW Nigeria – Zaria, Birnin-Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano and Katsina.
Boko Haram are usually associated with all terrorist activity around our border precincts in NE Nigeria+North/Far North Cameroon. So while the global jihadist posturing of ANSARU might indicate that they are responsible for this attack which was launched outside the NW Nigeria heartland, this could as well be a copycat raid by BH who might not be too comfortable with the fact that ANSARU are gaining international notoriety.
Boko Haram terrorists have actually been apprehended in this Dabanga-Waza National Park continuum. It happened a year ago
IF however this is yet another attack launched into or staged from NE Nigeria, the second within a four-day period, it could mean a few things
– ANSARU have transcended their NW Nigeria haven and have gained a formidable foothold in NE Nigeria
– ANSARU may be poaching ideologically driven, global jihadist terrorists from Boko Haram
– ANSARU, against the backdrop of reports of sightings of uprooted Malian terrorists as far away as Libya and Darfur(Sudan), could have had their ranks boosted by idological soulmates from Mali and are directly hitting at French interests in and around the Sahel
However, the association of Far Northern Cameroon with BH activity, not least Dabanga, and the motorbike attacks strongly suggest that BH are at any level involved in this. That uncharacteristic plunge into hostage taking would amount to taking a cue from the AQIM-affiliated ANSARU and could mark a shift in gear aimed at winning financial, logistic and technical support from global jihadists.
We got that absolutely SPOT ON. BOKO HARAM are the suspected kidnappers.
So BH have joined ANSARU in kidnapping foreign nationals with Westerners as the main target.
“It is a local problem”, they said. We knew it was always going to develop into this. The price of folly and subterfuge
http://iol.co.za/news/africa/boko-haram-blamed-for-cameroon-kidnapping-1.1473293
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/cameroon/9881066/French-children-kidnapped-by-Boko-Haram-in-Cameroon.html
Stay with Beegeagle’s Blog for precise undercurrents and unexpected paradigm shifts…such as a locally-fixated BH turning kidnappers at the drop of a hat
Something is happening and its taking the world stage by surprise. From US to Russia to turkey, iran, iraq, pakistan to afganistan, from west Africa running through the middle to up north. Many seem to be fighting one course or the other for God and others call them terrorist. Are dese people mad, NO but certainly there is a fundamental problems which turns dese normal being into terrorist and the world is watching this global jihad music, re they poor, NO bcos u need weapons and money to fight. Can we say, The west did some wrong in the past if that is an excuse, maybe YES or NO. But the real piicture is dat the war is not just against the west but peace loving people accross the world.When the west and right thinking indivuals condemn u hear others giving excuses of an unknown source. Nigeria in this case is not far from it, d silence is so glaring from some elites and one wonders if these BH guys rlly use planes bcos if they operate far in villages, hold meetings and move on cars then they must be seen. Nigerian forces has often accused people of hoarding info on BH activities. Others accused US, to have planted problems to necessitate the establishment of africom. Suddenly the gulf becomes pirates heaven, west africa on jihad watch. Hence the need for presence to protect interests. This school of though holds no water ofcourse. But the problem grows and within a short while all nations will be battling one grp or the other who wants to instituitionalise a law on others. For us, we really need to
1. Investigate activities of All religoius leaders and their mode of teaching.
2. Carry out surveillance ard our border line
3. Carry out search ops on religious centers
4. Computerise registration of car no plates (names, address, present location chip to no plates)
5. Inc night surveillance in villages
5. All camps or building to become govt occupied territory.
6. Sensor the press and mode of reporting, the Nig press made the ND militants more powerful and same to BH.
These are all valid points but let me add some very important point inter govt communications,between Cameroon and Nigeria arrests, extradition to Nigeria, prosecution by Cameroonian authorities and also joint coherent effort in security issues
If you dig deeper you are bound to find the footprints of the GCC states.
Just got this from Reuters about a second French casualty in the ongoing Malian conflict
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/us-mali-rebels-france-idUSBRE91I0XT20130219
What I’m I going to say now, that we have not discussed many times before. It begins to sound annoyingly, irritatinly repetitive. Nigeria is always in the news, but for all the wrong reasons. I have clicked on this thread at least 8times before now. However, anytime I click on the thread, I just get tongue tied , nothing to say.
The facts
The borders are very porus, 1300(over) illegal borders, to effectively man these borders nigeria needs considerable man-power and billions of dollars in infrastructure
The sahel region is 5 times the size of mali, the region is a vast arid desert wasteland. Easy for people to move around without been seen.
Our desert outposts are terribly under manned, under equipped and under fortified in that far north
Well, Cameroon have been riding on the tiger’s back for a while now and this was bound to happen soon enough. As it is, this would elicit a military response and BH would stage reprisal attacks.
From the off and with arms seizures and diversionary attacks at Baga, Gamboru-Ngala and Banki especially, BH have used all three neighbouring republics around Borno as rear bases and as staging posts for arms trafficking.
At the last meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Chadian President spoke about the need for a concerted effort at taking on these terrorists who are active or passive in all the countries of the basin. Nobody listened to him but we knew that he was right. Even the BH leader, Imam Shekau, used to be resident in Ngaoundere, Cameroon.
Following on the heels of crackdowns in Nigeria, fleeing BH chaps have been spotted in Chad, in the Diffa Prefecture of Niger and in the Grand North of Cameroon. BH terrorists have been arrested in Niger with IED materiel, in Chad and in Cameroon but few seemed ready to accept that a major storm was in the works.
Elsewhere and over a year ago, we had ominously predicted this inevitable turn of events.
Quote
” Frankly, I doubt that I really feel alarmed at this turn of events. All too often, Cameroon act like they have a uniquely Cameroonian panacea for their problems which are manifestly regional in scope.
Apart from the regional security organisation -GULF OF GUINEA GUARD COMMAND which groups together Nigeria, Cameroon, Equato-Guinea, Sao Tome, Gabon, the Congos and Angola which is still in its formative stage, the Chad Basin Commission which groups together Nigeria, Chad,Niger,Cameroon and the Central African Republic appears to be the only other platform which Nigeria and Cameroon jointly belong to.
Cameroon, even after the resolution of the Bakassi Conflict have yet to sign up for membership of the Multinational Joint Task Force on the Lake Chad which groups together Nigeria, Chad and Niger and which has been in existence since the 1990s as a joint security effort aimed at curbing the excesses of marauding gangs of Chadian guerrillas who earn their keep by engaging in acts of banditry. Well, Boko Haram have since been added to the list of the MJTF’s headaches.
After the August 2011 UN House bombing, a group of countries which are blighted by terrorism came together in Algeria to form the Global Counterterrorism Forum. Mali, Niger, Chad, Algeria and Nigeria where AQIM and/or Boko Haram are active all signed up for it. Not so for Cameroon.
Perhaps it is the same Napoleonic complex which is getting in the way yet again but Cameroon need to realise that almost any security issues in the eastern flank of Nigeria, inevitably has implications for Cameroon.
Indeed, both countries share a 1,900 kilometre frontier stretching from the Atlantic coast in the Gulf of Guinea to the south and on to the sahelian frontier on the Lake Chad/El Beid River axis in the Far North. Both countries, unique for containing every vegetational belt in Africa and for their babelian heterogeneity, have over fifty ethnic groups common to them.
Yet, Cameroon always appear to toe the insular line. Well, these are not Corpeurs des Routes(bandits) whose activities necessitated the formation of that country’s Rapid Intervention Battalion (“BIR” by its French acronym). These are Boko Haram and they were always going to seek to initiate their kinsmen in Cameroon into the fold.
Far to the south in the Gulf of Guinea, we similarly saw how the technical expertise and support of Niger Delta militants quickly spawned insurgent groups populated by Nigerian-born residents of Cameroon’s Bakassi Peninsula, most of whom are of Niger Delta extraction.
Indeed, that was how insurgent groups which are active in the Bakassi Peninsula such as the Bakassi Freedom Fighters and Africa Marine Commando came into existence. From that unsavory template, Cameroon came away with no lessons. They are after all an “unaffected” island unto themselves. ”
end of quote
CAMEROON-NIGERIA BORDER SECURITY AGREEMENT
(signed then made redundant in deference to concerns for ‘sovereignty’)
15 BOKO HARAM MEMBERS ARRESTED IN DIFFA PREFECTURE OF NIGER WITH GRENADES, IEDs
CHAD CALL FOR A MULTILATERAL APPROACH TO STALL BH ACTIVITY ACROSS FRONTIERS
PROPHETIC excerpts
(NOTE that the Malian coup had not taken place at the time of writing. Neither had Islamists seized control of northern Mali nor had the collaborative AFISMA effort been broached. Mali are now being saved by the coming together of nations. Will the countries of the Lake Chad Basin act in sync to squeeze out the terrorist threat within? Going it alone, Nigeria would cope better than Cameroon or Niger!)
Quote
“So the NIA, DIA, CIA, Cameroonian and
French secret services know where the
threats to national, regional and global
peace are clustered – in LAGDO, northern
Cameroon. We also learnt this evening
that they are also clustered around the strategic and all-important northern
Cameroonian border town of Kousseri.
In closing, do remember that prior to his
unfortunate assassination in mid-
September 2011, Babakura Fugu, the
brother-in-law of the slain BH leader who received former President Obasanjo to the family home stated clearly that over a third of their members had fled the JSTF onslaught and taken refuge in Niger,Chad and Cameroon.
When these countries are ready to set
aside the obsession with meaningless
sovereignty(they are effectively all French overseas provinces, are they not?), then we can come together as peoples of one anarchical and geographically contiguous neighbourhood – Mali, Niger, Chad,
Cameroon and Nigeria and fix our
common security problems together”
end of quote
So let everyone hang on tight to sovereignty. It was the excesses of Chadian rebels in the 1990s, not Boko Haram, which gave rise to the Multinational Joint Task Force. They stayed out of that and formed their own BIR as a unique response.
Last I checked, the Cameroonians had a home-grown military solution to the BH question.
Until the governments of Niger, Chad and Cameroon act in sync with Nigeria and not allow the use of their territories by BH terrorists, episodes such as this shall continue to occur. There are Nigerians, Chadians, Cameroonians and Nigeriens in BH..Mamman Nur, Aboubacar Kilakam etc..ranking members. The FG are willing to engage them here, so long as they do not have safe havens across the border. If we allow them to operate unhindered on our territories, Nigeria are not to be blamed for their actions.
After all, the no. 3 man in BH is Mamman Nur, a Cameroonian and that did not stop him from masterminding the Abuja UN House bombing of 2011. Nigerians and Cameroonians attack in Nigeria, why not in Cameroon?
If it be a local governance issue, so was the AZAWAD question in NE Mali. Today, it is an issue of terrorism. The only thing that is constant in life is change. But those who are stuck on the local problem tip are free to remain there.
Once upon a time in Algeria, a local problem – the annulment of elections won by fundamentalists – spawned the Algerian Insurgency. From the Armed Islamic Group(GIA) sprang the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat(GSPC) and from that emerged AQIM. In Algeria, it was once a governance issue. Today, terrorism of transnational consequence is the issue with AQIM kidnapping foreigners in Algeria and fleeing to Mali and vice versa.
In Mali, both the Tuareg-dominated MNLA and Arab-dominated FNLA agree that France laid down the script for the marginalisation of northern Mali and passed on same to the governments of post-independent Mali. It did not take long before the egalitarian agenda was hijacked by the terrorists of AQIM, Ansar Dine and MUJAO. The rest is history. Today, MNLA and FNLA are the weakest armed groups in northern Mali. They are scarcely the problem nowadays,protesting feebly about foreign jihadists haven hijacked their struggle to no avail.
So let the blame game and denials continue. Just as Al Barnawi’s ANSARU have emerged from BH thereby saddling a second terrorist group on Nigerians, nothing stops Mamman Nur from also exiting BH and mounting his own jihad in his native Cameroon. Then, it won’t matter where or how he joined BH.
The militarisation of BH ab initio was greatly facilitated by Abubakar Kilakam, a Nigerien national. He was alongside Imam Shekau, one of two deputies to the late Mohammed Yusuf and served as the chief logistician of the group. He hails from the Diffa Prefecture and is not known to be dead as we speak
Quote
” Similarly, between February and April
2009, Yusuf’s second in command named Kilakam, a Nigerien, was on two
occasions arrested and repatriated to his country. ”
http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html?m=1
end of quote
Mamman Nur is the third-in-command of BH. He is a Cameroonian national and is wanted by the FBI and INTERPOL for having masterminded the Abuja UN House bombings. Nur very nearly emerged as BH leader following the death of Mohammed Yusuf. So much for BH is a local problem
Quote
” After Muhammad Yusuf’s death, Boko Haram’s Cameroonian third-in-command, Mamman Nur, fell out with Shekau when Nur took over the leadership of the movement while Shekau recuperated from gunshot wounds suffered in the July 2009 clashes. Nur loyalists believed Nur
was fit to lead because of his
international contacts, including alleged contacts with Somalia’s al-Shabaab.
However, Shekau succeeded in using his
fearful reputation to emerge as the Boko Haram leader; according to a Boko Haram spokesman, “nobody even dared ask[Shekau] questions for fear of death” (Vanguard, September 3, 2011). ”
http://unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,NGA,,50f69aaf2,0.html
end of quote
Nigerien no.2, Cameroonian no.3. They are attacking in Nigeria, so if they attack in Niger or Cameroon, c’est la vie. Nigeria have tried to own the problem regardless. Our neighbours need to recognise the fact that they are not so free of complicity in the BH conundrum and collaborate to make it difficult for their territories to be used as rear bases.
If BH are a local problem, what do the FG of Nigeria owe the Nigerien and Cameroonian members of Boko Haram who are fighting against it – dividends of democracy?
I AM GOING TO LEAVE THIS PANDORA’S BOX Mr JOHNNY Carson AND THE Civil RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM .Maybe this is the time we should all behave like the proverbial ostrich and tell Cameroon there ARE SOVEREIGNTY issues to be worked out there are no acts of terrorism occuring in Nigeria and no they are not transporting them to Nigeria , all Cameroon needs to do is solve it’s poverty problems, build up it’s infrastructure thereby the elements which led to it’s being embarrassed would not occur what folly! what stupidity!!!
CAMEROON when it comes to domestic / foreign sponsored terrorisim is like stealing candy from a baby it is not only bound to happen but it is only surprising that it did not happen multiple times ( no i am not gleefully advocating kidnapping i am frustrated with the ineptitude on both sides of the border.) I WILL REPEAT THIS MANTRA ONE LAST TIME ” THE PROBLEM WITH having your own terrorists is you really can’t control them”
BOKO HARAM would commit acts of terror and to the consternation of Nigerian officials run to Cameroon of course every one would blame lax borders but everyone along the border town knew who they were ,why no arrests , why no fire fights oh you mean the token arrests that were carried out from time to time now that french CITIZENS HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED will they THE POLICE (gendarme) WHO ARE ILL EQUIPPED to deal with this PHENOMENON now come south and arrests hapless fishermen and poor women from BAKASSI?
Cameroon really needs to get with the program this is not your AVERAGE TERRORISTS GROUP “need cash will travel , will bring my AK 47also ethnicity is not a problem” also. Maybe the penny wise pound foolish Nigerian govt after being embarrassed will realize there is no competing demand that they have to spend money on border surveillance that they cannot ” manage their way out of this crises Nah money e go take no be waka and no be god go provide e no go be the case” We don hear tire about renovation MAKE UNA BRING THE MONEY OUT na wah!
For those who continue to dwell on the rhetoric of GOVERNANCE ISSUES, they are free to do so. Assured in the infallibility of their omniscient extrapolation and stuck in the rationalisation of the indefensible, they continue to dash between pillar and post to justify the antics of bare-faced and unscrupulous terrorists. As we speak, Boko Haram and Ansaru have clearly stated their grouses.
Boko Haram say they are committed to the enthronement of a Sharia-driven theocratic order across Nigeria. They do not recognise the Constitution or the institutions of state either.
ANSARU are similarly committed to the pursuit of redress for ‘persecuted muslims’ across the globe.
So those who know that it is a governance issue and that it is a local problem should only watch closely as the real issues unfold. The plot is set to thicken from this point onwards and the scourge of terror foisted on Nigeria by Nigerian, Nigeriens, Chadians,Cameroonians and Malians working together, looks set to become regionalised.
Personally, I am not a bit perturbed because many chose to take the myopic isolationalist view of the situation whereas universally, “terror is terror” and there are no jihadists with a local agenda anywhere. For reasons steeped in logistics, ideological guidance, training or finance, ‘local terrorists’ invariably get subsumed in a ‘globalised struggle’.
When terrorists struck in the West, Nigeria vociferously condemned them. They did not lapse into a treatise about how the exertions of the West in Middle Eastern politics served to shape the global jihadist agenda and to create suicidal ideologues and enemies. With BH, they have told us that they are poor, aggrieved and marginalised malcontents. To them, BH are a manifestation of the failure of governance and little else. We wait to hear what the rationale for terror attacks in Cameroon shall be.
The Nigerian Insurgency was always bound to transcend frontiers. The ethnocultural and religious ties to the neighbouring states made this abundantly clear. Unfortunately, foreign commentators sensing an opportunity to ‘exact a pound of flesh from the Nigerian political elite’ saw in the BH insurgency a chance to isolate and possibly bring down the existing order through their disingenious imputation of unstated motives to odious actions as carried out by terrorists.
It has never mattered that the said ‘rotten politicians’ have dozens of trained and well-armed security forces attending to them at any time while it is the downtrodden and oppressed masses who these foreign interlopers and experts imagine themselves to be fighting for, that get killed by IEDs detonated by Boko Haram and who have their throats slit by same.
Unlike the experts who have faltered with every reading of the situation, plebians such as yours truly have thus far not failed in our reading of the situation until now and that is not about to change. Watch this space.
ANSARU
Agence France-Presse
February 18, 2013
The Islamist extremist group known as Ansaru, which Monday claimed the kidnapping of seven foreigners in northern Nigeria, has emerged as a new threat in the restive region, particularly concerning abductions.
FULL NAME:
In emailed statements purportedly from the group, it has identified itself as Jamaatu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladissudan, which is Arabic for the Vanguard for the Aid of Muslims in Black Africa.
ORIGIN: It is believed to be a splinter faction of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram,which has carried out a violent insurgency in northern and central Nigeria for several years.
MEMBERSHIP:
Little is known about its members. Some experts say its leader may be Khalid al-Barnawi, one of three Nigerian extremists labelled a “global terrorist” by the United States last year.
AIMS:
When claiming attacks and kidnappings, it has mentioned France’s intervention in Mali and European nations’ “atrocities done to the religion of Allah.”
However, experts do not take such claims at face value and see the group more as a criminal gang with an Islamist strain.
FOREIGN LINKS:
The group is believed to have links of some kind with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Qaeda’s north African wing. The US State Department described Barnawi as tied to Boko Haram and with “close links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.” Its kidnappings would seem to mimic those claimed by AQIM in other countries.
ABDUCTIONS:
While what is believed to be Boko Haram’s main branch has not claimed kidnappings, Ansaru has been mentioned in connection with at least three instances:
– The May 12, 2011 abductions of a Briton and an Italian working for a construction firm in Kebbi state, near the border with Niger. The victims were killed on March 8, 2012 in neighbouring Sokoto state during a botched rescue operation.
– The December 19, 2012 kidnapping of a French engineer in Katsina state, bordering Niger. Ansaru claimed the kidnapping, and the victim’s whereabouts remain unknown.
– The February 16, 2013 kidnapping of seven foreigners from a construction site in Bauchi state. Nigerian police said four Lebanese, one Briton, a Greek citizen and an Italian were among those taken. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
OTHER ATTACKS:
It claimed responsibility for a January 19 attack in central Nigeria that killed two soldiers due to be deployed to Mali.
Hi beeg, here’s my piece on Ansaru from last month — foreseeing these recent events. http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40287
Nice one, buddy. Great to find you here.
Do you remember this look into the future?