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Nigerian Leader Reported to Cancel Visit to Home Village of Kidnapped Girls Nigerian Leader Cancels Visit to Village of Girls Taken by Boko Haram
(about 1 hour later)
President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria canceled on Friday what would have been his first visit to the remote northeastern village where Islamic militants kidnapped more than 260 schoolgirls last month in a mass abduction that inspired worldwide dismay about their fate and the authorities’ inability to find them, according to news reports. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — A first visit by Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, to the village from which nearly 300 girls were abducted by Boko Haram was abruptly canceled on Friday because of security fears, according to an official in the president’s entourage.
The Nigerian leader had planned to visit the village of Chibok on his way to a regional summit in Paris on Saturday, hosted by President François Hollande of France. But, apparently because of fears for his safety in a largely lawless region of his country, Mr. Jonathan was advised by security aides to fly straight to the French capital. The official said security could not be guaranteed at the village Chibok, which is 80 miles from this state capital. The road passes through territory largely controlled by Boko Haram; villages along it bear the traces — burned schools, empty houses — of earlier Boko Haram attacks.
The cancellation seemed to underscore the fragility of the government’s authority in the region where the girls were abducted on April 14, and the extent of the threat posed by the Boko Haram group that has taken responsibility for seizing the girls and which has been operating with relative impunity in the area for several years. Mr. Jonathan’s visit was expected to have symbolic import after weeks in which he has been accused of neglecting the abductions, even though his reaction to it has been consistent with earlier government responses through nearly five years of attacks by Boko Haram.
The Associated Press said President Jonathan had planned to fly to the regional capital of Maiduguri aboard a presidential jet, then take a military helicopter on to Chibok, 80 miles to the south. The road between Maiduguri and Chibok is a perilous route since it passes by the Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram redoubt. The federal government in Abuja has generally treated the Boko Haram insurgency as a regional problem confined to the country’s northeast. A worldwide outcry over the girls’ kidnapping on April 14 has forced an abrupt change in that approach.
There are mounting concerns outside of Nigeria that government forces are in poor shape to confront the militants.There are mounting concerns outside of Nigeria that government forces are in poor shape to confront the militants.
“We’re now looking at a military force that’s, quite frankly, becoming afraid to even engage,” Alice Friend, the Pentagon’s principal director for African affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington on Thursday. “The Nigerian military has the same challenges with corruption that every other institution in Nigeria does. Much of the funding that goes to the Nigerian military is skimmed off the top, if you will.”“We’re now looking at a military force that’s, quite frankly, becoming afraid to even engage,” Alice Friend, the Pentagon’s principal director for African affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington on Thursday. “The Nigerian military has the same challenges with corruption that every other institution in Nigeria does. Much of the funding that goes to the Nigerian military is skimmed off the top, if you will.”
The Obama administration has offered to help Nigeria take on the kidnappers, but the United States has not sent troops, and is unlikely to do so, in part because of the risks in attempting such a large-scale rescue over a vast expanse. The Nigerian president is due to attend a meeting on Saturday of regional leaders, hosted by France, that is expected to discuss a joint approach to Boko Haram. Until now there has been little cooperation among the Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Cameroon and Chad; members of the Islamist group, move with relative freedom across the region’s porous borders. The United States, the European Union and Britain will also be represented, according to a statement from the Nigerian presidency.
“At this point, we’re not actively considering the deployment of U.S. forces to participate in a combined rescue mission,” the White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday. The talks “will give special attention to the coordination and intensification of efforts to curtail the destabilizing activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria and neighboring countries in the wake of the recent abduction of schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno State,” the statement said.
On Saturday, leaders from Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad are to join President Jonathan at the Paris summit. The United States, the European Union and Britain will also be represented, according to a statement from the Nigerian presidency. The summit meeting in Paris “was Mr. Goodluck’s wish, and he expressed it in a recent phone conversation with Mr. Hollande,” an official from the Élysée Palace said, referring to President François Hollande.
The talks “will give special attention to the coordination and intensification of efforts to curtail the destabilizing activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria and neighboring countries in the wake of the recent abduction of college girls from Chibok, Borno State,” the statement said. “We aren’t in a military phase, but the goal of this summit is to prevent the expansion of Boko Haram in neighboring countries,” said the official, who declined to be quoted by name under French government sourcing rules. “The idea is to establish a stronger cooperation between countries in the region because they are not used to working together, and it is the first time that they’re all at the same table on security questions.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Jonathan, in an unusual decision, called on the United States and other Western countries to help with Nigeria’s security problems. The militaries of the bordering nations have widely differing capabilities, with that of Chad usually deemed by far the most efficient. A striking demonstration of this was the role the Chadian army played in pushing back jihadists in Mali, aided by the French, in 2013.
As a result, the United States and Britain have joined an international effort to locate and rescue the abducted girls. France sent a team of intelligence experts to Nigeria, the French president’s office said. But so far they have not taken up the fight against Boko Haram, which has been left in the uncertain hands of the Nigerian military. The region surrounding Chibok has the highest concentration of Boko Haram; earlier this week soldiers were ambushed outside of Chibok and four were killed, Nigeria’s Defense Ministry has told local media. The ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, did not return messages this week seeking comment.
“French and Western countries have a card to play here, which is to make sure that the borders are closed in order to prevent Boko Haram from using Nigeria’s neighboring countries as a staging ground, which it already does in Niger,” said Benjamin Augé, a researcher on Africa for the French Institute of International Relations, a private research group. Soldiers were so angry at having been made to pass through Boko Haram-controlled territory at night that they staged a mini-mutiny at an army barracks here Wednesday, firing on the car of the commanding officer as it entered the barracks, Nigerian media reported. The military said it was instituting a board of inquiry, but there was no word on the fate of the soldiers. Such small-scale revolts among the troops stationed here on the front line of the Boko Haram insurgency are common, a senior official here said.
Earlier this month, Mr. Jonathan, in an unusual decision, called on the United States and other western countries to help with Nigeria’s security problems.
As a result, the United States and Britain have joined an international effort to locate and rescue the abducted girls. France sent a team of intelligence experts to Nigeria, the Elysée said.
“French and Western countries have a card to play here which is to make sure that the borders are closed in order to prevent Boko Haram from using Nigeria’s neighboring countries as a staging ground, which it already does in Niger,” said Benjamin Augé, a researcher on Africa for the French Institute of International Relations, a private research group.
The role of France is important, Mr. Augé said. “France doesn’t know much about Nigeria, but knows very well its neighboring countries for historical reasons,” he said. Benin, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad, which will participate in the summit on Saturday, are former French colonies.The role of France is important, Mr. Augé said. “France doesn’t know much about Nigeria, but knows very well its neighboring countries for historical reasons,” he said. Benin, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad, which will participate in the summit on Saturday, are former French colonies.
Nigeria has recently been at the center of an international campaign against Boko Haram, with officials and celebrities, including the first lady, Michelle Obama, demanding the release of the schoolgirls. Last week, Nigerian protesters joined by local celebrities rallied in New York, Paris and elsewhere to call for the girls’ rescue.