Boko Haram: UK generals, others seek military support for Nigeria

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Boko Haram, Latest Politics Friday, October 17th, 2014

By Clifford Ndujihe (With agency report)

AT a time Nigeria’s efforts to combat the Boko Haram insurgency are being frustrated by the United States of America and South Africa, the country may get ample support from the United Kingdom, if a coalition of former government ministers and generals had their way.

Pained by the continued stay in captivity of the 216 Chibok schoolgirls six months after their abduction by Boko Haram insurgents, leading UK figures from the worlds of politics and Defence, according to a UK tabloid, The Independent, have signed a letter demanding international military assistance to Nigeria.

Specifically, they want Britain to help provide co-ordinated international military assistance to Nigeria to tackle the brutal forces of Boko Haram.

In spite of an international campaign, no diplomatic or military progress has been made to secure the release of the Chibok girls while Western attention has shifted to the problems of Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq and Syria where kidnapping of young girls and women has also been carried out by ISIS.

In a letter to The Independent, foreign affairs experts including former Foreign Secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind (MP); Lord Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democrats; former Labour Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth, and two former Africa ministers, said there is a compelling moral argument for international intervention against Boko Haram.

“Boko Haram and ISIS form a key part of a growing, well-organised international terror network that poses a direct threat to UK national security. They must be stopped,” they said and called for a coordinated Commonwealth-led military assistance programme for the Nigerian security forces in their campaign against Boko Haram, and increased international intelligence support and training for the Nigerian government and military.

Mark Simmonds, a signatory and former Africa Minister, said “there is more that needs to be done” to support Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram. “We’re not talking boots on the ground but we should be thinking about helping the Nigerian armed forces with training, procurement and with analysing intelligence.”

The letter was written as part of a campaign by Nigerian business groups, who feel international investment is being threatened by the instability in the country.

General Sir David Richards, formerly Chief of the Defence Staff and another signatory, told The Independent that Western governments had taken their eye off the ball in Africa. “It is no good just dealing with ISIS, we need a grand strategy that encompasses all these trouble spots.

There is a lot that the British and other Western governments and militaries can do to train and sustain indigenous forces. But military means alone will not be sufficient. It will be part of a national or international grand strategy to deal with the problems.”

Labour MP Chi Onwurah, who worked for two years in Nigeria and has a Nigerian father, reportedly said that she believed it was “important to keep the kidnapping in the public eye”. She said the Nobel peace award for Malala Yousafzai recognised the important contribution to peace of education for girls.
– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/boko-haram-uk-generals-others-seek-military-support-nigeria/#sthash.lHtUbHeG.dpufwp_posts