Nigerien, Libyan clash raises security concern in Nigeria

NIGERIA would need to watch the heightened armed activity just above its northern frontier as there were reports yesterday that the army of the Republic of Niger had clashed with a heavily armed convoy travelling from Libya towards Mali.

Quoting security sources, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in its afternoon report also quoted the country’s defence Minister, Mahamadou Karidio, as saying that one soldier was killed in the clash on Sunday while several attackers have now been captured.

But Karidio did not clarify whether or not the convoy was made up of fighters of the ousted Libyan regime or al-Qaeda-linked militants. Both groups have reportedly travelled through the increasingly unstable border area.

The remote desert region is also affected by a rebellion involving ethnic Tuaregs, some of whom fought on the side of killed Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi, during the conflict in Libya. Although none of the current arms being intercepted was heading to the Nigerian border, there is need for intelligence upgrade and high alert.

The Guardian had in a feature article on October 3rd this year drawn attention to the terror cells up there (the Sahel) threatening Nigeria wherein it concluded, among others, that Nigeria now needs to be a central element, not an outlier in efforts to improve security beyond its northern fringe – the Sahel.

Before latest findings surfaced, the link between Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the al-Shahab in the Arabian Peninsula, including Somalia, had been established after al-Qaeda publicly identified Boko Haram as an organisation it can do business with.

Also, the recent death of two Frenchmen in eastern Mali, kidnapped from a restaurant across the border in Niger, were widely treated by the western media as an example of a brazen new audacity by the southern offshoots of the so-called al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. That development also forced foreign ministries in many countries, including Britain, France, the United States (U.S.) and Australia to beef up their advisory notices to travellers and expatriates in Mali and other parts of the Sahel.

Serge Hilpron, the head of Radio Nomad, a broadcaster in northern Niger, told the Associated Press yesterday that his sources indicated that both Libyan nationals and Tuaregs were in the convoy.

“Because of the Libyan problem, there are now traffickers heading to Libya to pick up the arms left behind and to bring them here. These same traffickers then sell the arms to AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb),” he is quoted as saying.

Libya is awash with weapons after its eight-month conflict in which the Gaddafi family was ousted. Karidio said the military captured some of the fighters during the clashes in the Arlit area. One soldier was killed and four wounded in the fighting, he said.

Security sources further told France’s RFI radio that six four-by-four vehicles, with a large quantity arms from Libya, were destroyed.     According to him, a huge arms cache, including rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, was seized but he did not specify where they came from.

Security experts believe AQIM – which attacks and kidnaps foreigners across the region – is acquiring weapons from Libya, which they describe as an “arms bazaar.” Reports from last month had claimed that a son of Col Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, was in a convoy heading towards Libya’s desert border with Niger, but the reports were never confirmed.

In September, Niger’s government said another son of Col. Gaddafi, Saadi, had crossed into Niger and had been given refuge in the capital, Niamey. The U.S. has pledged to help Libya’s National Transitional Council to recover missing weapons, including surface-to-air missiles.

In August this year, the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad rebel group – made up of Tuaregs – emerged in Mali. It said it would absorb Tuareg fighters returning from Libya. Col Gaddafi was a strong backer of Tuaregs in Niger and Mali, who claim they are marginalised by the governments of the two countries.

It was therefore not surprising that U.S. Gen. Carter Ham in charge of American forces for Africa, attended the recently held conference on anti-terrorism in the Sahel in Algeria.

Because of its leaning towards Islamic fundamentalism, Boko Haram keeps recruiting felons and now seeks to accelerate the slow progress of radicalisation seen over the past two decades. There is even now an interlinked security intelligence that suggests a broader approach to the menace.

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Source: The Guardian

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