US report says Boko Haram may have anti- aircraft missiles

From Punch
A report by a committee of the
United States House of
Representatives has linked the
fundamentalist Islamist sect, Boko
Haram to al Shabaab, the terror
group that carried out the
September 21 Westgate Mall attack
in Nairobi, Kenya.
The report dated September 13,
2013 and entitled, ‘Boko Haram:
Growing Threat to the US
Homeland’, also acknowledged the
growing relationship between the
Nigerian sect and another terror
group, the Al Qaeda in the land of
the Islamic Maghreb.
The 39-page report noted that
“while there is no evidence that al
Qaeda’s core in Afghanistan and
Pakistan commands Boko Haram’s
operations, it is clear from the
words of multiple US officials and
media reports that Boko Haram is
supportive of, and supported by Al
Qaeda networks such as AQIM.”
It noted that “it is the unity of ideology
and mutual hatred for the West between
the Al Qaeda networks that exposes the
danger Boko Haram poses to the U.S
Homeland.”
The committee described Boko Haram as
a “hardened and sophisticated terror
network” that required multiple
simultenous local and international
efforts to enhance the capacity and
capability of the the Nigerian Police and
the military to curtail its activities.
It said there was an urgent need by the
US to designate the sect as a Foreign
Terrorist Organisation because it has
shown no signs of ending its aggression
against the government of Nigeria and
the Western world.
The commiteee wrote, “The world is
coming to know more about Boko Haram;
their intentions, what they’re capable of,
and who is supporting them.
“The US Intelligence Community is
working to erase the gaps in our
understanding of Boko Haram, but it is
already evident they are a serious threat
to US interests and potentially to the US
Homeland.
‘‘Acknowledging this threat publicly by
designating Boko Haram an FTO will
establish a legal mechanism for
prosecuting any supporters within US
jurisdictions.
“This is an increasingly important tool
given their attempts to market themselves
to a wider international audience.
“Boko Haram shows no signs of ending
its campaign against the government of
Nigeria and the Western world. Two years
after their August 2011 bombing of a
United Nations facility in Abuja, Nigeria,
Boko Haram remains a threat to the
international community, and continues
to be a developing threat to the US
Homeland.”
The report said that Boko Haram had
“highly skilled bomb makers who might
have received training from experienced
militants elsewhere, potentially indicating
a stronger relationship between them
and AQIM or Al Shabaab.
It said that besides building
sophisticated weaponry, it was now
possible that Boko Haram had acquired
or will acquire SA-7 and SA-24
shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
The SA-7 missile is effective up to 1,300
metres, while some newer models reach
altitudes of almost four kilometres.
Although most aircraft cruise around
9,140 metres, the SA-7 could be used to
target aircraft during takeoff and
landing.
In the report, the committee warned, “It
does not take much imagination to
picture the threat these weapons would
pose to commercial aviation in Abuja if
they fell into Boko Haram hands.”
Out of the 20,000 such weapons in Libya,
only 5,000 of them had been secured
through a $40m US programme to buy up
loose missiles during the fall of the
Gadhafi regime. Most are believed to
have found their way into countries that
share common boundaries with Nigeria.
The committee acknowledged that the
Goodluck Jonathan administration had
taken some potentially promising steps in
its effort to fight Boko Haram.
It said the appointment of Col. Sambo
Dasuki (retd), a northern Nigerian
Muslim, to the position of National
Security Adviser on June 23, 2012,
demonstrated Jonathan’s willingness to
give northerners and Muslims a visible
role in Nigeria’s struggle with Boko
Haram.
“Dasuki has taken the lead in organising
government’s fight against Boko Haram,
and his background as a Muslim from the
North may give him obvious and potent
symbolic significance,” the committee
said.
In spite of this, the committee observed
that concerns regarding the capability of
the Jonathan administration to effectively
deal with Boko Haram remained
prominent.
The committee said without foreign
assistance from countries such as the US
and the UK, the Nigerian government
would almost certainly face a prolonged
battle in neutralising Boko Haram.
According to the committee, the State
Department, which has also engaged
Nigeria through its African Coastal and
Border Security programme, has focused
its assistance on peacekeeping support,
training, border and maritime security,
and increasing military
professionalisation.
But it lamented that in spite of the
training, the “JTF continues to behave
unprofessionally, and has been accused
of human rights abuses by Human Rights
Watch, among other entities, including
the State Department’s most recent
annual human rights report.”
It also warned that greater pressure must
be applied to the JTF to abandon counter-
productive and brutal tactics alienating
northerners.
The committee said failure of the
Secretary of State to designate the Boko
Haram sect an FTO, was the ‘most
obvious flaw in the US effort to combat it
and prevent its expansion.’
It said, “If Boko Haram were to be
designated an FTO, it would support US
intelligence community efforts to curb
the group’s financing, stigmatise and
isolate it internationally, heighten public
awareness and knowledge, and signal to
other governments the US takes the
threat from Boko Haram seriously.
“If Boko Haram is not designated an FTO,
its potential threat to the US and its
capability to attack the homeland would
likely increase. It is therefore an urgent
next step to take in fighting this growing
al Qaeda affiliate in Nigeria.”
The committee further said as the
number of attacks perpetrated by Boko
Haram had increased in 2013, so had the
attention paid to the group by the US.