[size=15pt]'Massive' troop deployment to Nigeria's restive northeast[/size]

By Ola Awoniyi (AFP) – 2 hours ago

ABUJA — Nigeria's military on Wednesday announced the "massive" deployment of troops to its restive northeast, after the president declared a state of emergency in areas where Islamist insurgents have seized territory.

A separate military source speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that fighter jets would also be deployed to the region, raising the possibility that Nigeria could carry out air strikes within its own territory.

President Goodluck Jonathan issued the emergency decree in a broadcast late Tuesday, acknowledging for the first time that Boko Haram Islamists had "taken over" parts of Borno state, the insurgents' stronghold.
"Nigerian Armed Forces... have commenced operations to rid the nation's border territories of terrorist bases," a military statement said.

"The operations which will involve massive deployment of men and resources, is aimed at asserting the nation's territorial integrity," it added.

The emergency measures applied to Borno and two neighbouring states, Yobe and Adamawa.
Boko Haram, which says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's mostly Muslim north, had used Borno's capital of Maiduguri as a home base, but its fighters have relocated to remote border regions following a crackdown in the city.

The borders with Chad and Niger are porous and analysts say that criminal groups, including weapons dealers, have for years migrated freely between countries.

Nigeria has warned that Boko Haram has increasingly sought ties with like-minded foreign groups, including Al-Qaeda's north African wing and has gained access in recent months to more powerful weapons, some of which have been brought in through unchecked borders.

Brutal clashes between soldiers and Islamist gunmen on April 16 led to the deaths of about 200 people in the town of Baga on Lake Chad, half of which was destroyed by fire during the fighting.

The military said the insurgents fighting in Baga were armed with rocket propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.
On May 7 in the northern Borno town of Bama, Boko Haram gunmen staged coordinated attacks on the military and police killing dozens. They also orchestrated a prison break that freed more than 100 inmates.
They stormed the town in a convoy of seven vehicles armed with heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft ammunition, according to the military.

Jonathan said the Boko Haram violence, which has left thousands dead since 2009, can no longer be treated as "militancy or criminality".............




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Airstrikes?

Now I'm really worried. The potential loss of innocent civilian lives from military airstrikes may make Baga look like a carnival.

I fear that Goodluck Jonathan, in an attempt to avoid being seen as weak, may have bitten off more than he can chew.

Boko Haram is a fragmented, shadowy sect. Insurgents such as BH can NEVER be defeated in open warfare.

My view remains what it has always been: This security threat can only be curtailed with superior intelligence gathering, coupled with an intensive battle for hearts and minds which will involve a combination of witness protection (for BH members willing to defect and provide valuable information) to provision of emergency social services for affected communities, to investment in emergency public works programmes to create jobs for the unemployed, to the commitment of special funds for the restoration of Lake Chad.

The government must work to induce potential defectors to come forward with valuable information on who the backers and financiers of BH are, and in exchange such defectors can be offered amnesty as well as witness protection for them as well as their families.

By doing these, you can show the indigenes that you're really concerned about their welfare (thereby increasing government goodwill and reducing local sympathy for the BH cause).

But as long as Jonathan continues with this heavy-handed approach, I fear the war will continue for years to come.

P.S: Meanwhile, what is being done about the borders?