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    November 16, 2011

Nigerian Lawmakers Boost Funding for Fight Against Boko Haram

   Scott Stearns | Lagos
   An armored vehicle is parked in front of the joint task force
   headquarters in Maiduguri, Nigeria. (File Photo - September 26, 2011)
   Photo: AP
   An armored vehicle is parked in front of the joint task force
   headquarters in Maiduguri, Nigeria. (File Photo - September 26, 2011)

   In Nigeria, federal lawmakers are establishing a special security fund
   to help the military fight the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.
   Senate leaders say the special security fund will enable Nigerian armed
   forces to better combat violence blamed on the Boko Haram sect. Several
   joint military task forces have been established in northern states
   over the last year in response to a series of bombings and shootings
   The chairman of the Senate Committee on Defense, Rivers State Senator
   George Sekibo, says spending on those task forces was not part of the
   budget.
   'We have not envisaged them in the budget. They are not," said Sekibo.
   "And then the military is coming out to fight about them. Now if you
   don't make funds available in the budget, and then such challenges
   continue or other forms [of violence] come up, you have to now apply
   for money, look for money, destroying other areas of the budget before
   you are going to tackle those matters.'
   Since Nigeria's return to civilian rule, the military has been
   receiving a smaller part of federal spending. Army Chief of Staff
   Lieutenant General Onyeabo Ihejirika says Boko Haram's continuing
   security threat means that has to change.
   'It was expected that the military would be less visible. And that has
   not been the situation," said Ihejirika. "In fact, it could be argued
   that we are more visible now than we were even during military regime.'
   Boko Haram is believed responsible for coordinated attacks on police
   stations, churches, and an army base in small towns across northern
   Nigeria earlier this month that killed more than 100 people. The group
   claimed responsibility for the August bombing of the United Nations
   headquarters in the capital Abuja that killed 23 people.
   Boko Haram says it is fighting for the establishment of a separate
   Sharia-led nation in northern Nigeria, and has refused overtures to
   open talks with the government, citing the military build-up in the
   north. The group says it recognizes neither Nigeria's constitution nor
   this year's election of President Goodluck Jonathan.
   President Jonathan says Nigeria's character is being tested by
   unnecessary killing and destruction. He says the government is
   initiating a 'rapid and robust' process to 'fight and defeat that
   evil.'

   'We have lost relatives to these crimes, and we shall bring the
   perpetrators to book. We share in your pain," he said. "We stand united
   as we confront the inhuman actions of the misguided few who seem
   determined to violate the core values of tolerance and peaceful
   co-existence.'
   Nigerian security forces say the mastermind behind the bombing of U.N.
   headquarters in Abuja received training alongside al-Qaida-linked
   al-Shabab militants in Somalia. Algeria's foreign ministry says it
   believes Boko Haram is now coordinating activities with the
   Algerian-based al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which has claimed
   responsibility for a series of attacks and kidnappings across the Sahel
   from Mauritania to Niger.