DETERMINED to meet the December deadline to eradicate Boko Haram insurgency, the Federal Government may have decided to boost current military efforts to defeat the group by enlisting the services of mercenaries from South Africa.

Anadolo, a Turkishbased news agency yesterday said in its website that the mercenaries, estimated 250 personnel and hired from South Africa-based private contractor Specialized Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection (STTEP), are being deployed along with fighter jets in Operation Fire Force.

This is the second time South African mercenaries would be employed to help battle Boko Haram militants. Reports had it that the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan recruited the services of the same group of mercenaries. The government then denied the reports even as a retired colonel, Eeben Barlow, who heads STTEP, confirmed that his group of “bush warfare experts” were recruited in “top secrecy” in January to train an elite strike group within the Nigerian army.

According to Anadolo, a source at Nigeria’s defense headquarters said

on condition of anonymity that “The mercenaries have been reengaged and their platforms are being deployed. By platforms, I mean fighter jets, helos (helicopters), coms (communication), surveillance, medics, etc.”

Inspite of the combined efforts by the multinational force to crush the militants, the group has continued to unleash mayhem on the northeast region of the country and beyond to neighbouring countries.

Daily Sun could not immediately confirm the veracity of the report from relevant authorities but Anadolu said the Nigerian military did not respond to its request for comment.

Also, STTEP did not respond to the news agency’s emailed requests for com- ment.Criticisms trailed reports that the Jonathan administration had employed mercenaries to help fight the insurgents. Critics (including the opposition) accused the administration of wasting funds on mercenaries while starving the military of funds and equipment.

The use of mercenaries to battle Boko Haram militants became a cam- paign issue in March when President Muhammadu Buhari (then presidential candidate) condemned the practice, describing it as “shameful.”

Asked why the Buhari administration is again deploying mercenaries, the defense HQ source said it appeared to be the most practical option if headway was to be made against militants whose guerilla tactics are new to the Nigerian military, Anadolu reported.

According to the source, the Buhari administration initially terminated the mercenary contract be- cause it was “opaque and without accountability”.

However, a new agreement was reached to boost the counterinsurgency opera- tion.

“As it stands now, huge amounts of monies are owed to the contractors as fulfillment for the previous engagement,” “So they are starting a new engagement for an initial period of three months. As for their out- standing balances, investigations are being carried out to ensure everything is above board.”

However Anadolu reported that Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, denied the government was engaging mercenaries again. “It is true that the previous administration hired South African mercenaries to fight Boko Ha- ram,” he said.

“They, however, left with the government that brought them. Since coming into office, this government did not have any engagement with mercenaries of any kind and there are no plans to do so,” Shehu added.

Siphiwe Dlamini, a spokesman for the South African National Defense Force (SANDF), said his country did not have any troops in Nigeria but could not say if private mercenar- ies were operating there.

“I wish to reiterate there are no SANDF personnel in Nigeria fighting Boko Haram,” he told Anadolu Agency. “If there are South Africans who are there as you allege, they are not our members but private citizens. I cannot comment on what private citizens are doing in any part of the world.”

STTEP includes veterans from the South African apartheid era who will work with and train a Nigerian strike force, according to the source. Another army source confirmed the development to Anadolu Agency. “There is definite- ly something happening in that direction,” the source said, again on condition of anonymity.

According to STTEP’s official website, the company’s trainers and advisers are drawn from “conventional, clandestine, and covert units of the pre-1994 South African Defense Force”. It claims to have a proven track record of success in Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and Central and South America.
http://sunnewsonline.com/new/fg-enlists-services-of-south-african-mercenaries-to-combat-boko-haram/

lalasticlala this is new

not that our millitary are not doing well, they are waiting for their 15th warning to boko haram