Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Nigerian massacre was ‘just the beginning,’ Boko Haram’s leader vows
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the mass
killings in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga and threatened more
violence.
As many as 2,000 civilians were killed and 3,700 homes and business were
destroyed in the Jan. 3 attack on the town near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon,
said Amnesty International.
The leader of Nigeria’s Islamic extremists took responsibility for the
killings in a video posted on YouTube Tuesday, the same day International
Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she is examining the allegations
of mass killings and will prosecute those most responsible for war crimes and
crimes against humanity in Nigeria.
“We are the ones who fought the people of Baga, and we have killed them with
such a killing as He [Allah] commanded us in his book,” Shekau says, according
to a translation from Arabic provided by SITE Intelligence Group.
The video shows weapons supposedly captured from a key military base at
Baga.
“This is just the beginning of the killings. What you’ve just witnessed is a
tip of the iceberg. More deaths are coming,” said Shekau in the local Hausa
language.
“This will mark the end of politics and democracy in Nigeria,” he warned as
the country gears up for critical Feb. 14 presidential elections.
The attack on Baga has sparked international outrage not seen since Boko
Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a boarding school in April last year.
Nigeria’s demoralized and ill-equipped military has failed to rescue the 219 who
remain in captivity.
Neighbouring Cameroon has had more success in combating Boko Haram, this
month retaking a seized military base and this week winning freedom for scores
of abducted women and children.
In neighbouring Niger, regional foreign ministers Wednesday were negotiating
how to establish a multinational force to fight the extremists.
Shekau taunts them in the video, saying “I’m ready” for any attacks.
Previous experience does not bode well. Baga was headquarters for a
multinational force but Chad and Niger abruptly withdrew their troops without
explanation and only Nigerians were there when Boko Haram struck, according to
Nigeria’s military chief.
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