EXPOSED: SEE WHO IS PROVIDING BOKO HARAM WITH MONEY AND WEAPONS
After many speculations on where the Islamist
militant group, Boko Haram, are getting the weapons they frequently use to
unleash terror in the north-eastern states of Nigeria and Abuja, their main
sources have been unveiled.
According
to US network TV NBC, most of the Islamic terror group’s weapons are either
stolen from Nigerian military stocks or purchased on the thriving Central
African arms black market, say the experts, including current and former U.S.
officials.
While
many have often wondered where the insurgents source their weaponry from, given
both the sophistication and the sheer number, ThisDay reports that the group
blamed for last month’s kidnapping of nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls routinely
raids police stations and military bases in search of weapons
It
was also gathered that in some cases, Boko Haram sympathizers in the Nigerian
military abet the theft.
“There
are hints that sympathizers in the Nigerian army will deliberately leave doors
of armouries unlocked for Boko Haram,” said John Campbell, U.S. ambassador to
Nigeria from 2004 to 2007.
It
could also be recalled that a top military officer was indicted several years
ago in Kaduna, for supplying the weapons of the Nigerian army to Niger Delta
militants, led by, now jailed, Henry Okah.
The
terror group has been conducting its campaign of terror in the northern states
of Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon on the cheap, making mayhem with a
makeshift collection of small arms, automatic weapons, rifles, rocket-
propelled grenades and mortars, experts on the turbulent region say.
The
report also stated that apart from weapons, the rebels frequently seize
non-lethal equipment that helps them carry out their terror attacks, quoting
one U.S. official.
Apart
from benefiting from sympathizers in the Nigerian military, the Islamic terror
group is said to be able to purchase small arms and occasionally some larger
weaponry in nearby conflict zones, “probably Libya, probably Chad.
These
arms are believed to be acquired through “shady, black market” arrangements
across barely marked borders, as the official put it.
The
porousness of the Nigerian borders was also said to be encouraging the
proliferation of the country with illegal arms, according to Michael Leiter, a
former director of the National Counter Terrorism Center and now an NBC News
analyst.
“The
collapse of Libya has further flooded the market,” said Leiter. “Whether these
came from Chad, Nigeria, or Libya is almost irrelevant, as such arms are widely
available.”
Arms
trade expert William M. Hartung agrees. “It’s one conflict after another,” he
said. “Because of the nature of the conflict … the concentration of conflicts …
the black market in Central Africa is more vibrant than other places.”
Campbell,
the former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, says the array of small and automatic
weapons, grenades, mortars, mines and perhaps car bombs “is all Boko Haram’s
soldiers need to carry out their brand of terrorism.”
It
could be recalled that officials in Cameroon on Tuesday showed a cache of
weapons they said was seized near the Nigerian border last month following a
rescue of some other kidnapped victims.
A
Cameroon defense ministry spokesman, showing off a variety of weaponry including
Russian-made AK-47s, said the cache represents what they are up against on a
daily basis in trying to combat Boko Haram.
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