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Arms Inflow From Northern Borders Intensifies •the Gaddafi Mercenaries by aloyemeka1: 3:18am On Oct 04, 2011
[size=14pt]Arms inflow from Northern borders intensifies •The Gaddafi mercenaries connection •Boko Haram members relocate to Kano, others[/size]


Written by Olawale Rasheed, Abuja
Monday, 03 October 2011

AS security services struggle to combat budding terrorism, a fresh alarm has been raised about the inflow of sophisticated arms of various types into northern Nigerian cities from the vast northern borders of the country with Niger and Chad.

Nigerian Tribune was told that arms and ammunition taken by loyalists of ousted Libyan president, Moammar Gaddafi, from Libya to the Agadez region of Niger Republic are finding their way into northern Nigeria, even as fresh reports indicated that hard core Boko Haram members are now hibernating in northwestern cities after escaping counter-terrorism onslaughts from the northeastern part of the country.

Previous reports had shown that Nigerians who served as mercenaries in the Libyan army were flocking into the country through the country’s northern borders, even as speculations are rife about the involvement of the former Libyan strongman who had earlier advocated a division of Nigeria into three, in the Islamic insurgency led by Boko Haram sect.

A retired senior security officer told the Nigerian Tribune that the nation had about 480 irregular border crossings in its 4,500-kilometre borders with Niger and Chad Republics while the official border manned by Nigerian officials are 12.

“These illegal crossings are witnessing inflow of arms and nobody is checking, nobody is trying to control this dangerous phenomenon. The arms are highly sophisticated going by the advanced nature of Gaddafi armoury,” the source said.

Affirming that the nation’s northern borders have not been demarcated nor properly policed 51 years after independence, the ex-security officer noted that “on a daily basis since the defeat of Gaddafi, northern borders are witnessing strange movements, not just of men, but of arms and this is beyond the control of police, immigration and customs service.

“Have you ever heard of any arms seizure in the northern zones? Go to Ngala, go to all those remote areas in the North, go to areas south of Gimbiya, Ilela and others, you will see ungoverned territories with criminal gangs dealing in arms and ammunition,” the source said.

Contrary to earlier reports that the Boko Haram members fled to the South after operations in the North-East, members of the sect are reportedly finding solace in the North-West, a situation said to have heightened security screening and checks, especially in Kano.

“The North-East is now very hot for the sect. The Kano command of the intelligence service has done a good job of containing the extremists based on immediate actions on actionable intelligence on movements of these sect members from the crisis zone to the North-West,” a very dependable security source told the Nigerian Tribune.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/29068-arms-inflow-from-northern-borders-intensifies-the-gaddafi-mercenaries-connection-boko-haram-members-relocate-to-kano-others
Re: Arms Inflow From Northern Borders Intensifies •the Gaddafi Mercenaries by tpia5: 3:49am On Oct 04, 2011
war.
Re: Arms Inflow From Northern Borders Intensifies •the Gaddafi Mercenaries by tpia5: 3:51am On Oct 04, 2011
i wonder if the nigerian govt knows the returnees are supposed to be housed separately and debriefed/demilitarized for a long period of time before being allowed to mix with the general populace.
Re: Arms Inflow From Northern Borders Intensifies •the Gaddafi Mercenaries by tpia5: 3:53am On Oct 04, 2011
Hundreds of returning Tuaregs alarm Mali, Niger



, Hundreds of armed Tuaregs from Mali and Niger who fought for toppled Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi have started to return to their home nations, security sources said, raising fears of conflict.

"Hundreds of Malian and Nigerian Tuaregs are coming home from the Libyan front. Among them are former Malian and Nigerien rebels, but also Tuaregs of Malian origin who were in the Libyan army," said a security source at Gao in the north of Mali.

The Tuaregs from the army obtained Libyan nationality in the 1990s and mostly fought alongside Kadhafi's other troops. Some of them were integrated into an elite military unit, the same source said.

"Mali has the same problem" as Niger, which borders Libya, the source added.

Officials from Niger on Sunday told AFP that Nigerien mercenaries, mainly Tuaregs, had begun returning to the northern town of Agadez on the edge of the Sahara desert, after Kadhafi's forces were routed by Libyan rebels.

"We need to fear a destabilisation of the whole Sahel with this new development. States like Mali and Niger are not prepared for this situation," said Mamadou Diallo, a teacher at Bamako University in Mali.

"What's going to become of these fighters? They have vehicles, weapons and expertise," he added. "This is dangerous."

Both the neighbouring, largely desert nations have in the past two decades faced serious Tuareg uprisings, which were ended by peace talks between their governments and the rebels, mediated by tribal elders.

The Tuaregs, who have historically roamed over vast tracts of the southern Sahara, seek acknowledgement of their cultural identity and have pressed the governments of the cash-strapped countries to help develop their regions.

Locals have expressed fear of these fighters since they left Libya, warning that their return with Libyan heavy weaponry might benefit Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which originated in Algeria and operates in several countries.

A community of some 1.5 million people, the Tuaregs have traditionally lived in Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso. The Tuareg rebellions shook Mali and Niger in the 1990s and early 2000s, with a resurgence between 2006 and 2009, which caused tens of thousands of Tuaregs to take refuge in Libya.

http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-returning-tuaregs-alarm-mali-niger-000410715.html

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