Category Archives: Africa

Nigeria: ‘Fulani’ Herdsman, Razed Villages, Arms Running, Hezbollah, Even Turkish Diplomats –>

18 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Nigeria, Regions

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BackChannels source this morning relayed the following from Lagos, Nigeria in relation to raids by apparent herdsman against largely disarmed villages.

  • Since the first of the years, source claims, more than 500 Nigerians have been slaughtered in raids and no arrests have been made;
  • The number of Internally Displaced Persons associated with the conflict exceeds 200,000;
  • The Nigerian government has been repossessing simple weapons from villagers while attackers typically carrying AK-47s surround their targets and destroy buildings and stores with burning petrol;
  • The complement attending raids may average about 100 or more fighters;
  • Source of arms: Libya, other Arab nations, and Turkey.

In 2013, news reports mentioned a Hezbollah cell and weapons cache in Nigeria; the latest weapons seizure of similar scale in 2017 appears to have originated through Turkish channels.

Although Fulani herdsman have been blamed en masse for the aggression noted, BackChannels has heard suggestion that the weaponizing may devolve to the same forces backing extremist organizations elsewhere.  The 2013 Hezbollah connection and the more recent 2017 interdiction involving Turkey would appear to support that thesis.

Recruitment into raiding units would also appear to correspond to conditions channeling fighters into rogue organizations elsewhere.

Dr. Omolade Adunbi, Assistant Professor, Political Anthropology, University of Michigan noted the following earlier this year in the publication Africa is a Country:  “The question then becomes, how are these insurgents with no clarity of purpose able to recruit members into their dysfunctional group? The answer to this question is not far-fetched. First, the effect of climate change on the rise of social inequality in many parts of the country has meant the increased susceptibility of socially vulnerable groups to recruitment.”

Related on YouTube

Posted to YouTube 3/28/2014

Posted to YouTube 1/11/2018

Posted to YouTube 8/2/2016

BackChannels can never “vet” these videos, but most recognize this conflict in Nigeria as involving cattlemen, basically, and farmers.  Less played may be the role played by religion in the conflict, which here has been made apparent:

Posted to YouTube 1/16/2018

Considering the 2013 Hezbollah weapons cache story, the latest interdiction of arms involving Turkish (criminal, of course) channeling, the claim of arms coming from Libya and more recent participation associated with Turkey and the activities of Moscow and Tehran in manipulating conflicts and extremism into existence (listen to the BBC interview of a once Soviet admiral on the Ogaden War), the drivers of this latest tragedy in Nigeria may start to surface.

Reference

Abiodun, Eromosele.  “Turkish Govt to Deal with Collaborators of Arms Shipment to Nigeria.”  This Day Live, September 27, 2017.  Denial —

The Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil, in a meeting with the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), over importation of four containers of pump-action rifles into Nigeria in last eight months vowed to help Nigeria fish out criminals behind the illegal arms shipment to Nigeria.

Adunbi, Omolade.  “How did Fulani herdsmen become such bogeymen in Nigeria?”  Africa Is A Country, February 1, 2018 —

The question then becomes, how are these insurgents with no clarity of purpose able to recruit members into their dysfunctional group? The answer to this question is not far-fetched. First, the effect of climate change on the rise of social inequality in many parts of the country has meant the increased susceptibility of socially vulnerable groups to recruitment . . . .

Amnesty International: Nigeria 2017/2018.

Amnesty International.  “Nigeria: Dozens killed as military launches air attacks on villages beset by spiralling communal violence.”  January 30, 2018 —

On 4 December 2017, Nigeria’s air force sent fighter jets to fire rockets at villages as a “warning” to deter spiralling communal violence, as hundreds of herdsmen attacked at least five villages in Adamawa state to avenge the massacre of up to 51 members of their community, mostly children, the previous month in Kikan.

An Amnesty International team visited the villages in the aftermath of the air raids and gathered witness testimony from residents who described being attacked by a fighter jet and a military helicopter as they attempted to flee.

BBC News.  “Nigeria: Hezbollah armoury discovered in Kano city.”  May 30, 2013 —

The cache, including rifles, anti-tank weapons and an RPG, were found in a warehouse in the city of Kano, he said.

Nigeria’s State Security Service said they were intended for use against “Israeli and Western interests”.

BBC News.  “Nigeria: How Customs seize 1,100 guns for port.”  September 11, 2017.

BBC News.  “Nigeria’s Benue clashes: Mass burial after farmer-Fulani clashes.”  January 11, 2018 —

Mr Onoja, who was at the funeral, said 73 people were being buried.

He defended his state’s controversial ban on open cattle grazing implemented in November, which Fulani herders have complained targets them unfairly.

“Our economy in Benue State depends on agriculture,” he said. “Take that away and we have a serious problem.”

Come to Nigeria.  “Hausa and Fulani People”.

Eboh, Camillus.  “Nigeria says arrests Iran-linked cell targeting U.S., Israel.”  Reuters, February 21, 2013.

(Reuters) – Nigeria’s secret service say they have arrested a “terrorist cell” trained in Iran who planned to attack U.S. and Israeli targets in Africa’s most populous nation.

The State Security Service (SSS) said they arrested Abdullahi Mustapha Berende and two other Nigerians in December after Berende made several suspicious trips to Iran where he interacted with Iranians in a “high profile terrorist network”.

Inyang, Ifreke.  “No one can defeat us in Nigeria — Fulani national leader, Bello boasts.”  Daily Post, January 29, 2018.

The National Chairman of Fulbe (Fulani) Development Association of Nigeria (FULDAN), Malam Ahmad Usman Bello, has declared that they cannot be defeated by any ethnic group in the country.

Bello made the remarks while speaking with Saturday Tribune in Kano, amid the widespread outcry against the murderous activities of Fulani herdsmen in Benue, Plateau and Taraba states and many other parts of the country.

Sahara Reporters.  “470 Guns Seized at Lagos Port.”  September 22, 2017.

The federal government is set to meet Turkish diplomats today over the spate of illegal importation of rifles from Turkey to Nigeria.

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Comptroller-General (CG) Col. Hameed Ali (retd) said this when he briefed reporters over the seizure of another 470 rifles at Tin-Can Island port in Lagos.

Sahara Reporters.  “Amnesty International Brands Nigeria’s Response To Fulani Herdsmen Violence Inadequate, Reveals 717 Killed In Less Than 2 Years.”  January 29 2018.

The body also said communal clashes have claimed over 700 lives since last year. AI made its position known in a statement issued on Monday. It stated that clashes between herdsmen and farmers in Adamawa, Benue, Taraba, Ondo and Kaduna states have resulted in 168 deaths in January alone.

Sahara Reporters.  “Fulani Herdsmen Kill 4 Soldiers in Garrison Commander’s Convey, Injure Scores in Plateau.”  March 17, 2018.

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Fulani Herdsman Rampage Through Dundu Village, Kwall District, Bassa, Plateau State, Nigeria

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Journalism, Nigeria

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BackChannels’ source has reported nineteen men, three women, and three children killed by Fulani herdsman Monday night (March 12, 2018) in Dundu Village, Kwall District, Bassa Governate, Plateu State, Nigeria.  The attack follows by three days the burning of 50 homes and the killing of two children, twins, and 9 adults  in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.

Source claims Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari “has been paying lip service to the atrocities committed by Fulani terrorists.”

President Buhari has urged patience on the part of the Nigerian public:

Nigeria’s issues with the nomadic Fulani, pressured by drought and motivated some by Islamic supremacist egotism, has been a developing conflict issue in Nigeria for some time.  Herewith a smattering of related reports and news news reports and fair use excerpts from them.

Fast Reference

All excerpts are partial (there’s more to be read at the source) and dated either in the address line or short after the URL.

https://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/fulani-herdsmen-nigeria – 2014

Fulani herdsmen and farmers conflict in Nigeria is a land resource based conflict in north-eastern Nigeria. According to a Human Rights Watch report of December 2013 violence between Fulani herdsmen, farmers and local communities had killed 3,000 people since 2010.

http://dailypost.ng/2018/01/11/declare-fulani-herdsmen-terrorists-now-southern-middle-belt-leaders-charge-buhari/

Attributed to Chief Adebanjo:

On herdsmen, Adebanjo said he had no trust on the ability of the police to quell the activities of the group as the police hierarchy had already described the killings as communal clashes.

He further lambasted President Buhari over his handling of the killings, stressing that “even when someone in the caliber of Falae was kidnapped, he didn’t utter a word. He has also refused to identify Fulani herdsmen as terrorists.

http://punchng.com/herdsmen-kill-11-torch-50-houses-in-plateau/ – 3/10/2018

President Muhammadu Buhari had barely left Plateau State when the attacks were launched on Ganda village of Daffo District in Bokkos Local Government Area and Miango village in Bassa Local Government Area. The communities were attacked few hours after the inauguration of Plateau State Peace Building Agency by the President, who was in Jos, the state capital, on a working visit.

https://newtelegraphonline.com/2018/03/herdsmen-kill-25-raze-houses-plateau/

He said: “Twenty-five people lost their lives in a fresh attack on Dundu village of Kwall District of Bassa Local Government Area. The incident occurred just as the Irigwe community had planned a mass burial for four of the five earlier killed in a similar attack on Nzhauvo village.

“When we reacted to a claim by the Miyetti Allah group in January of missing cattle, we told you it was a ploy to justify another round of killings. True to this, the Fulani militia, which the Federal Government has refused to brand a terrorist organisation to the dismay of Nigerians, have continued to visit our villages with orchestrated and unwarranted carnage.

https://naijanewsandevents.com/fulani-herdsmen-attack-dundu-village-in-plateau-kill-25/ – 3/14/2018

Daily Sun gathered that the attack, which occurred at about 7pm, left several houses burnt and scores injured.

It was learnt that the attackers took the villagers unawares when they were preparing to take their dinner and the entire village was enveloped by gunfire from the attackers, leaving children, women and the aged scampering for safety.

A youth leader, Lawrence Timothy, said 25 corpses have been found, while more were still being recovered from the bush

http://punchng.com/herdsmen-kill-26-torch-11-houses-in-fresh-plateau-attacks/ – 3/14/2018

Attributed to Lawrence Zongo, spokesman, Miango Youth Development Association:

“Others, including two women are now receiving treatment in a nearby hospital in the community. One girl later died in the hospital, making it 26 victims. This is too bad as we are planning for a mass burial of the last attack. So far, we have more than 500 in Internally Displaced Persons camp. The international organisations should please come to our aid.”

gtd-fulani-chart

Source and Search:

http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?search=Fulani&sa.x=38&sa.y=9&sa=Search

Notice the spike on the chart from 2010 into 2016.

START.  “Annex of Statistical Information: Country Reports on Terrorism 2016.”  Page 12.  National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.  July 2017.

Information about perpetrator groups was reported for 77% of terrorist attacks in Nigeria in 2016.  Due to a 63% decrease in the number of attacks carried out by Boko Haram and a 62% increase in the number of attacks carried out by Fulani militants, Fulani militants were responsible for the most terrorist attacks in Nigeria in 2016.

https://jamestown.org/program/alleged-connection-between-boko-haram-and-nigerias-fulani-herdsmen-could-spark-a-nigerian-civil-war/ – March 16, 2014.

In recent weeks, Nigerian security forces have claimed that some groups of semi-nomadic Fulani herdsmen engaged in bitter and bloody conflicts with farmers in several Nigerian states are actually composed of members of Boko Haram. A statement from Nigerian Director of Defense Information Major General Chris Olukolade claimed the potentially dangerous identification came during the interrogation of Fulani herdsmen arrested after a series of killings and arson attacks in Taraba State (Vanguard [Lagos], April 23; Leadership [Abuja], April 24; Nigerian Tribune, April 24). Reports of Boko Haram members (who are mostly members of the Kanuri ethno-cultural group) disguising themselves as Fulani herdsmen while carrying out attacks in rural Nigeria are common. Though many of these reports may be attempts to deflect responsibility from Fulani herders for attacks on sedentary farming communities throughout north and central Nigeria, even the perception that the Fulani herdsmen have joined forces with Boko Haram could propel Nigeria into a new and devastating civil war.

Note: because Russia has been cited as arming the Taliban in Afghanistan in its war against liberal and democratic modernity in that state, BackChannels may suggest searching for similar connection in the “handling” of both Boko Haram and the portion of Fulani Herdsmen engaged in creating chaos, dispossession, and ruin in Nigeria.

It should be evident worldwide that Soviet / post-Soviet Moscow works to weaken states: Syria has been half destroyed in association with Moscow, Crimea invaded and today badgered daily by related military and terrorist-type elements, and so one may ask — or must ask — where else?  And for whose benefit?

For more immediate Nigerian and practical realpolitik, the response to Fulani “softening” for incursion may turn out the state’s army and armed local militia.

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The Shame of Morocco: Corruption and Public Health

20 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, International Development, Morocco, Politics

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Two days ago on the web, BackChannels listened to the pleas of a young man in Morocco for relief from lowest-wage labor and daily uncertain employment ($7 per day if it could be found) and exposure to illness and injury and related distress without access to local basic health services.  The acquaintance told the story of friends, two among five who for sleep shared a room in a house.  One had been stricken with severe stomach pain and the other with a leg injured in a fall, and there followed the story of getting to a hospital, being initially refused emergency care, and persisting in insisting on being seen.

Being seen — eventually the two were, the one with the leg injury being sent home, and the other with severe stomach pain remained in the hospital.

Being made visible – that’s why this post is here.

With online research, it doesn’t take long to connect the absence of simple human decency in the distribution of Moroccan health care in its public facet to the social cancer of pervasive corruption.  In fact, corruption appears to BackChannels the chief impediment to the firm establishment and distribution of basic medical services in the state.

There appears in numerous reports the petite corruption of patients bribing the doctors to rush the que.

How rude!

However, of greater concern may be the business to privileged business way of doing business, i.e., what is referred to as institutional or “grand corruption”, and that appears suppressed: nonetheless, one picks up from the literature notes associated with bribery, nepotism, profiteering, skimming, and stealing — all the many possibilities available to the feudal and ruthless.

Who diverted money budgeted for facilities maintenance and how was it really spent?

Who took the medicine or failed to protect it in storage?

Equipment or medicine damaged or stolen would seem the same thing — i.e., useless — to doctors and their patients.

Where is the money going?

Who is getting it?

What are they doing with it?

BackChannels has no idea although reading Gulain P. Denoeux’s 1999 or 2000 report may raise awareness of the tension between a feudal systems of absolute power — and lenience and patronage — and a modern rule-of-law system engaged in independent investigation, administrative and judicial oversight, and associated regulation with corrective measures and penalties specified.

This blogger’s impression, which could change with the next reference piece, is that both external forces and internal pressures have made corruption a major theme in Moroccan governance, and while related policies and laws have been developed to address issues, they have yet to be vigorously implemented by King Mohammed VI who needs must balance the legacy relationships of powerful families and institutions in situ with the state and its quest for a political modernity that cares for, enfranchises, and empowers a broadening swath of the less visible Moroccan population.

In the manner of kings, Mohammed VI this past summer shifted culpability for the death of a fishmonger trying to recover a swordfish — caught out of season — from the garbage truck (in which police had by implication thrown it) to local political authority while pressuring the same to do their work:

“If the King of Morocco is not convinced by the way political activity is conducted and if he does not trust a number of politicians, what are the citizens left with?” Mohammed VI said during a televised speech commemorating the 18th anniversary of his ascension to the throne.

“To all those concerned I say: ‘Enough is enough!’ Fear God in what you are perpetrating against your homeland. Either carry out your duties fully or withdraw from public life.”

Often in the feudal mode, appearance may be made to suffice for performance.

In the modern world, that’s not enough: the conditions of things, the states of affairs come out in open observation and statistics, and today that observation is global.

To get public health distributed as needed — as deserved and as befits the humanity and image of the state — Morocco needs greater economic development supported by rule of law and capable of sustaining revenues within the state and seeing a greater part of that confidently distributed in the public interest. 

One may paint the hospital’s new oncology wing to avoid a king’s ire while also making him look good, but one may not paint over the misery of suffering alone in pain and uncertainty without recourse to accessible basic clinic services staffed by personnel educated and trained for the purpose.

 

Reference

Alami, Aida.  “Morocco’s Health Care System in Distress.”  The New York Times, March 27, 2013:

It was a makeover fit for a king, Mohammed VI, whose visit, to inaugurate a new oncology wing, was later broadcast on national television. But it did not do much to mask the reality of health care in Morocco, where even Health Minister Houssaine Louardi has conceded that standards of care for the country’s 33 million people are far from adequate.

Public hospitals are decrepit and lack doctors, equipment and medicine, and fewer than 30 percent of Moroccans have health insurance coverage.

Al Jazeera.  “Moroccan king pardons more than 1,000 protesters.”  July 29, 2017:

The Rif, a predominantly Berber region where al-Hoceima is located, has been gripped by months of unrest.

Protests erupted last October after a fishmonger was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve a swordfish confiscated for being caught out of season.

Demands for justice later snowballed into a wider social movement named Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, calling for jobs, development and an end to corruption.

Council of Europe Portal.  “Anti-corruption digest, Morocco”.

Denoueux, Guilain.  “The Politics of Morocco’s ‘Fight Against Corruption'”.  Middle East Policy Council VII:2, (circa) 1999-2000.

Errazzouki, Sami.  “Morocco’s king pardons some protesters, lambasts officials.”  Reuters, July 30, 2017.

Euromed Rights.  “Morocco / Western Sahara”.

Euromed Rights.  “Item 4: General Debate / Oral Intervention / United Nations Human Rights Council: 31st Session.”  PDF.  March 15, 2016:

A broadly worded article in the Moroccan penal code criminalizes receiving support from foreign organizations with the purpose of “harming the integrity, sovereignty or independence of the Kingdom, or shaking the loyalty that citizens owe to the state.” This article can be used to penalize a wide range of legitimate forms of expression and association and to curtail the right of Moroccan civil society to seek funding freely as guaranteed by the international human rights conventions to which Morocco is party

Export.gov.  “Morocco – Corruption”.  September 21, 2016.

France 24.  “The grimy reality of Morocco’s public hospitals.”  The Observer, March 31, 2015:

Blocked pipes, mouldy walls, wet blankets and a shortage of supplies: this is what users of Morocco’s public health system have to deal with. Dozens of photos published on Facebook have shed light on the grime reality of the country’s public hospitals. According to our Observer, it reveals a disastrous state of affairs that the government’s privatisation plan won’t be able to fix.

Friedman, Thomas L.  “The Globalutionaries”.  The New York Times, July 24, 1997.

The Suharto regime allows no space for a democratic opposition to emerge. So what the pro-democracy, pro-clean-government forces are relying on is not a revolution from below, not a revolution from above, but a revolution from beyond.

Their strategy is to do everything they can to integrate Indonesia into the global economy on the conviction that the more Indonesia is tied into the global system, the more its government will be exposed to the rules, standards, laws, pressures, scrutiny and regulations of global institutions, and the less arbitrary, corrupt and autocratic it will be able to be.

GAN Business Anti-Corruption Portal.  “Morocco Corruption Report.”  October 2016.

Snapshot

Corruption represents a problem for businesses in Morocco. Almost all sectors suffer from rampant corruption. Cultures of patronage, nepotism and wasta (the use of connections) exist, and inefficient government bureaucracy and excessive red tape deter investors. The legal framework concerning corruption, transparency and integrity is in place, and the regulatory system is becoming increasingly transparent. Under the Moroccan Criminal Code, active and passive bribery, extortion, influence peddling and abuse of office are illegal. Anti-corruption laws are reportedly not enforced effectively by the government. Prosecutions of corruption cases have been accused of targeting only petty corruption, and, allegedly, companies owned by highly influential persons are rarely disciplined. Facilitation payments and giving and receiving gifts are criminalized under Moroccan law, but businesses indicate the likelihood of encountering these practices is high.

The report goes on to comment on Morocco’s judicial system, police, public services, land administration, tax administration, customs administration, public procurement, natural resources, legislation, and civil society.

Global Integrity.  “Morocco – Country Findings Summary.”  Africa Integrity Indicators.  2016.

Partnership for Transparency – Health Services.

Transparency International.  “How the IMF Can Have Real Impact on Fighting Corruption.”  October 12, 2017.

Transparency International.  “Moroccan Honoured for Taking on Health Corruption”.  February 3, 2014.

UNCA Civil Society Coalition.  “Interview with Mr. Abdesselam Aboudrar, Chair, Central Authority for Corruption Prevention, Kingdom of Morocco.”  October 1, 2015:

What are Morocco’s expectations for the 6th session of the UNCAC Conference of States Parties (COSP)?

It’s a UN process. All UN processes are slow because you need consensus and you cannot force governments to agree to anything. Still it’s worth noting that more and more countries accept evaluation, country visits, publication of full review reports. It’s less and less comfortable for the countries that oppose transparency. Morocco will work to help to make progress in the review process at the next COSP session, although I remain sceptical about reaching quick achievements

What is Morocco’s position on holding a discussion of grand corruption at the UNCAC Conference of States Parties (COSP)?

I think the UNCAC COSP can discuss grand corruption. Transparency International should elaborate instruments for this. The Corruption Perceptions Index is biased towards petty corruption—it does not point out grand corruption or institutionalised corruption.

Wikipedia.  “Health in Morocco”.

Wikipedia.  “Mohammed VI of Morocco”.

World Health Organization.  “Country Cooperation Strategy at a Glance”.

Posted to YouTube April 24, 2015.

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FTAC: Mandela –> Zuma –> Perhaps the end of ‘Aristocommiecrats’

11 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Political Psychology, Politics, South Africa

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2103: https://conflict-backchannels.com/2013/12/09/zoom-zoom-zuma-hail-the-presence-of-another-african-aristocommicrat/

—

2017: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/07/will-the-party-of-nelson-mandela-die-so-that-jacob-zuma-can-live-anc-no-confidence-vote/

—
His family has been looting, his friends have been looting, and in the process he has weakened the state, divided the ANC, divided the alliance. We continue to deal with the mess, and it will take a long time to clean up.” —

One dictatorship can undo many of the gains made by ethical and modern revolutionaries. A nod here to the South Africans letting Jacob Zuma know he has gone off the track.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/03/jacob-zuma-calls-confiscation-white-land-without-compensation/

Zuma, not unlike Robert Mugabe, may also represent an execrable representation of the claim to leading a “people’s liberation movement” as a means to autocratic and elitist power. This time, however, the communist alignment has turned on the leader over the matter of corruption.

http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/south-african-communists-ban-president-zuma-from-party-congress/

“We never fought the struggle to liberate the country to hand over our economy to the Guptas,” he declared, accusing the ANC leadership’s attacks on “white monopoly capital” of being “a Marxist-flavored narrative [used] as an alibi for parasitic plundering.”

Amen.

Inspiration: Mandela on the promotion of national reconciliation.

Lesson to be learned: if you should happen to develop or inherit high ethical and moral capital and standing, don’t squander it with a now old and tiresome charade.

–33–

Also in Media: “Tunisia, The Only ‘Beacon of Hope’ Shining Out of The Arab Spring”

18 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Politics, Tunisia

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The “Arab Spring,” by contrast, “was relatively tame” in Morocco, Feuer stated, a country that has pursued under its monarchy a “tried and true preference for a very gradual type of reform.”  She cited the expanded parliamentary powers and human rights provisions of the 2011 constitution, while Brown credited Morocco with MENA’s most “comprehensive Countering Violent Extremism strategy.”  Morocco’s security sector, anti-corruption, and rule of law reforms demonstrate that the government has attempted to “find chinks in its armor” and “close the doors that predatory groups in the region have managed to use,” he stated.  “The monarchy in Morocco has managed to stay ahead of the curve” of political unrest, Tadros concurred.

Read more by Andrew Harrod: Tunisia, The Only ‘Beacon of Hope’ Shining Out of The Arab Spring – 7/14/2016.

Gun Control – Nigeria – Disarmed for Slaughter? A Juxtaposition

29 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Nigeria, Regions

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“I support the development that henceforth, women will no longer be allowed to enter Catholic churches during masses with hand bags, apart from their purses, which will also be subjected to thorough scrutiny by church workers.

http://dailypost.ng/2014/06/29/boko-haram-women-banned-carrying-handbags-enugu-catholic-churches/ – 6/29/2014

“I’m not sure security agencies have gone to rescue the villagers, but I learnt that the insurgents are still in pursuit of the remaining villagers”, Mallam Yahi told DailyPost.

http://dailypost.ng/2014/06/29/boko-haram-100-feared-killed-insurgents-attack-chibok/ – 6/29/2014

# # #

Nigerians – Dead, Maimed, Refugee – Again – Boco Loco In Dark Space

25 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Nigeria, Regions

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It is a co-ed school about 45 miles south of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, and difficult to communicate with because extremists last year destroyed the cell phone tower there.

Islamist group slaughters 43 children in Nigerian boarding school | Mail Online – 2/25/2014.

“Dark space” has nothing to do with color, race, creed, religion: it has to do with communicating and policing.

Any location without reliable 24/7 cellular communication becomes an easy target for marauders — and these most barbaric and sadist of Muslims, so they claim that status for themselves, prove the worst of marauding gangs.

Reactive tactics and strategies fail just as reliably as cell service.

Show business — shows of force, state public relations — won’t work either, and so far plainly hasn’t.

*

But, how do we encourage security agencies that refuse to use intelligence information sent to them by citizens or fail to coordinate intelligence information from various security outfits and government agencies?

Recently, a fellow gave sensitive information to a policeman on some suspicious activities within his workplace but the policeman waved it aside that even if he tells his boss, the officer will not trust his information or may accuse him of belonging to Boko Haram. Now how do we encourage the government or security services when a junior policeman does not have confidence in his superior officer?

Opinion: Nigerian security agencies and the fight against Boko Haram | – 1/24/2014.

Nigeria’s army may be brave, but as much as it may request weapons, what it needs most is a locked tight loyal intelligence service, one capable of tracing financing and arms sales, detecting related cabal and traffic in planning, and knowing, not guessing, where its enemy wanders.

*

In the backs-of-beyond, whether the remote corners of Columbia-Ecuador, the Durand Line separating Afghanistan from Pakistan, or the remote villages of Nigeria, producing structural changes may prove the most expensive but necessary response to a force now roaming and killing at will: cell systems, forts, roads, helicopter pads, airfields — all of it: and then, as too often demonstrated in Pakistan, mere police, even a barracks full of them, simply will not stand off a force superior in numbers for the 30- to 45-minutes it may take to lose a firefight while waiting for “backup”.

Opposite that tack: as refugees spill in from affected areas, they are doing defense naturally: fleeing the death for the safety of great numbers and improved state response to attack.

*

Boko Haram are better armed and are better motivated than our own troops.

Boko Haram and a Nation at War, Articles | THISDAY LIVE – 2/20/2014.

*

“It would appear that they have established bases in certain parts of the northeast that nobody can even penetrate or go to, and they’ve excluded every symbol of authority in those areas,” he said. “Some even say they are in control of various local governments in the northeast and are collecting taxes and running the show in those places.”

Boko Haram’s Funding Remains ‘Elusive’ – 5/22/2013.

* * *

BBC News – Nigeria school raid in Yobe state ‘leaves dozens dead’

Muslim group slaughters 43 children in Nigerian school, children burned alive, Jihadists shot and slit the throats of children who tried to escape through the windows | Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

Thousands fleeing Boko Haram find little comfort in Niger | Reuters

29 Boys Killed as Boko Haram Attacks Boarding School in Nigeria – NBC News.com

* * *

“Boko Haram came in at about 4.00 a.m. (0300 GMT), just when we were getting ready for the morning prayers,” said Bama resident Abba Masta, who lives near the palace.

“There was shooting everywhere and they set the palace on fire. Many died. Students had to run for their lives as they attacked the government girls college as well.”

It was one of several deadly attacks this week.

Boko Haram fighters kill 47 in attack in northeast Nigeria -police | The Indian Express – 2/20/2014.

Related: NCTC.gov – 2014 Counterterrorism Calendar, n.d.

When a government asks “Islamists” to lay down their arms (say “Pretty Please”?), it may do so with faith in reason, but better with these to have faith in the savagery that drives and the greed and lust that ensures their continued swimming in blood and money.

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Central African Republic – Behold: More Malignant Narcissists!

03 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by in Africa, Central African Republic, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy, Islamic Small Wars, Politics, Psychology

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“The ultimate cause of our instability is not religious but political, because whoever comes to power makes his entourage commit abuses to stay in power,” he said, “They treat the country as their private money-making business. We need a real democracy with politicians who have a vision to look after the needs of everyone.”

Riptide – Foreign Policy – Peter Bouckaert – 1/31/2014.

I didn’t want to get this blog on to Congo before it’s time, but, conflict is conflict, this is a blog about that, and I really don’t see any difference in worthiness between a Burmese tribe ethnically cleansing another (and hanging children along the way) and some other conflict zone horror involving killing by “machetes, torture, lynching, shooting, explosions, and burning,” which list you will find in the lead to the above cited story by Peter Bouckaert.

Then too, as with Syria and its brutal and mindless dictatorship opposed by an equally brutal and mindless al-Qaeda laden devolutionary force, one may notice the relative helplessness of noncombatant constituents on the land: they’re trapped between monsters, and the monsters are of similar kind: “malignant narcissists”.

Little dictators.

Modify that some: “little dictators with “Advanced Small Weapons” and lots of primitive ones as well and nothing of conscience, only greed offsetting fear and filling up enormous egos and their ambitions.

This strain in mankind — not the peacock per se, but the vicious peacock — proves a disaster wherever it appears.

Related: reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Gold and diamonds in the Central African Republic.pdf – February 2013.

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