Al menos 25 muertos en varios ataques de Boko Haram en Nigeria

Al menos 25 personas murieron y decenas resultaron heridas en varios ataques perpetrados ayer por el grupo terrorista Boko Haram en los estados de Borno y Andamawa, en el noreste de Nigeria.

Nigeria dice que ha impedido que 23.471 personas se unan a Estado Islámico

Dice que también querían integrarse en los talibanes, en redes criminales o de prostitución. Las autoridades de Nigeria prohibió la salida del país a 23.471 personas que planeaban viajar al extranjero para unirse a organizaciones terroristas como el Estado Islámico (EI) o los talibanes, y a redes criminales y de prostitución. El portavoz del Servicio de Inmigración de Nigeria (NIS, en sus siglas en inglés), Emeka Obua, informó este martes de que la prohibición de abandonar el país se mantuvo durante más de 15 meses y terminó en marzo de 2015.

Boko Haram attack on Nigerian village leaves nearly 100 people dead

By The Guardian

Nearly 100 people have been killed in an attack on mosques and houses in a village in north-eastern Nigerian by suspected Boko Haram militants, witnesses said on Thursday.

Chibok girls 'forced to join Nigeria's Boko Haram'

By BBC News

Witnesses say some are now being used to terrorise other captives, and are even carrying out killings themselves.Some of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria have been forced to join Islamist militant group Boko Haram, the BBC has been told.

Liberan a más de 200 mujeres y niñas raptadas por Boko Haram en Nigeria

Vía El Economista.es

El Ejército nigeriano ha liberado a otras 234 mujeres y niñas que habían sido secuestradas por la milicia islamista Boko Haram, que se suman a las otras 450 que fueron liberadas a principios de esta semana, aunque por el momento no se puede confirmar si se trata de las niñas de Chibok.

Nigerian election: opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari sweeps to victory

By The Guardian

The Nigerian opposition leader, Muhammadu Buhari, has swept to victory in the country’s presidential election, a political earthquake that inflicted the first defeat on an incumbent in the history of Africa’s biggest democracy.

Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least 50 in Nigerian attacks

By The Guardian

Female suicide bombers believed to be acting for Boko Haram are reported to have been part of attacks that killed at least 50 people, including children, in a city in the north-east of Nigeria.

Two explosions happened at market places in Maiduguri, where women were seen with bombs strapped to their bodies or in bags, according to reports. A third explosion took place in one of the city’s busy bus stations. The cause for that explosion has yet to be confirmed.

Clement Adoda, police commissioner of Borno state, of which Maiduguri is the capital, said 58 were dead, while 139 people had been injured. Both tolls are expected to rise, and there have been unconfirmed reports of further explosions elsewhere in the city.

Maiduguri was once the base of the Islamist group, which has been conducting a campaign of violence pushing for Islamic rule in Nigeria. It has already claimed more than 13,000 lives. After being pushed out of the city last year, its fighters retreated to the nearby Sambisa forest, from which they launched attacks on villages and towns in the north-east, taking over wide stretches of territory. Last month experts warned that Boko Haram was likely to increase its attacks on civilian targets in response to the successful reclaiming by government forces of several of the group’s strongholds.

The first attack on Saturday occurred at the city’s Baga fish market at around 11.20am, according to Abubakar Gamandi, head of the fishermen’s union in Borno state. “A female suicide bomber exploded as soon as she stepped out of a motorised rickshaw,” said Gamandi, who was at the scene, according to a report from Agence France-Presse. “Eighteen people were killed.”

A market trader, Idi Idrisa, said: “I saw many dead bodies lying on the ground, many dead and several others badly injured.” His account was supported by a nurse at the Maiduguri general hospital, where many of the victims were taken.

About an hour later a second explosion rocked what is known locally as the Monday Market, killing another 15 people, according to Gamandi. A trader there told the BBC that two female bombers seemed to have targeted the market. One had a bomb strapped to her body that detonated as she was being scanned at the entrance gate, he said. Another woman was said to have exploded the bomb she was carrying in a bag a few feet away.

A third explosion came shortly after 1pm at the nearby busy Borno Express bus terminal, where witnesses said around 12 people could be seen lying on the ground afterwards. It was not clear whether they were dead or injured or whether the blast had been caused by a suicide bomber or car bomb.

A vigilante leader in Borno, Danlami Ajaokuta, whose civilian fighters have been working with the military across the north-east in fighting Boko Haram, said security forces had ordered the closure of all businesses across the city given the apparently coordinated nature of the bombings and the fear that more could follow. Borno state’s justice commissioner, Kaka Shehu, confirmed all three attacks but declined to discuss casualty figures.

Last week Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, said the tide had “definitely turned” against militant Islamists as Nigerian troops and their regional allies recapture territory.

Boko Haram has also attacked villages in Cameroon and Niger as Nigeria’s neighbours form a multinational force to confront the spreading Islamist uprising. Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, last week said his forces know the whereabouts of the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, and warned him to surrender or face certain death.

Boko Haram fighters are massing at their headquarters in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Gwoza, in apparent preparation for a showdown with multinational forces, according to witnesses who escaped from the town. An intelligence officer told Associated Press that they were aware of the movement but that the military was acting with care as many civilians are still trapped in the town with Boko Haram laying landmines around it.

Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections have been postponed by six weeks to 28 March to give troops more time to beat back Boko Haram. Abubakar Shekau has vowed to disrupt the vote, and widespread unrest, especially near polling stations, could prove disastrous.

Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict are living in Maiduguri, swelling the city’s population to well over two million.

Aprobada la privatización de los Ferrocarriles Nigerianos

Por Sergio Ruiz

El Consejo Ejecutivo Federal de Nigeria ha aprobado la Ley de la Autoridad Ferroviaria Nigeriana 2014, que abrirá al sector privado la actividad ferroviaria y por la que el gobierno renunciará al control de la infraestructura ferroviaria, que data de la Ley del Ferrocarril de 1957.

 La ley permite al sector privado construir, operar y mantener la red nigeriana, de 3.557 kilómetros y ancho 1.067 milímetros, bajo control en la actualidad de la Corporación Nigeriana de Ferrocarriles (NRC). La ley ha sido enviada a la Asamblea General para su debate antes de ser aprobada.

NRC afirma que se necesitan inversores privados y asesoramiento técnico para recuperar la mal mantenida red ferroviaria de Nigeria, que consiste en dos líneas principales entre Lagos y Nguru y Port Harcourt y Maiduguri.

Velocidad limitada a 35 km/h

El 21 de diciembre de 2012, el Gobierno de Nigeria inauguró los servicios intercity de pasajeros y productos petrolíferos entre Lagos y Kano. Estos servicios ferroviarios complementan los existentes entre Lagos-Ilorin y Minna-Kano. La ruta Lagos-Kano tiene una longitud de 1.126 kilómetros. Este segmento es el único operativo hoy día en la red nigeriana.

La aprobación de la ley revive ahora los antiguos planes para la creación de tres concesiones independientes de veinticinco o treinta años, por las que empresas privadas gestionarían el corredor ferroviario central, oeste y este.

La Corporación Nigeriana de Ferrocarriles había llegado a tener 45.000 empleados entre 1954 y 1975, pero, en la actualidad, sólo posee 6.516. No se han adquirido nuevos vagones desde 1993, y algunos de los existentes datan de 1948. Las condiciones de la vía limitan la velocidad a 35 km/h.

Nigeria retrasa las elecciones por Boko Haram

Por Sergio Ruiz

La Comisión Electoral Nacional Independiente de Nigeria (INEC, por sus siglas en inglés) ha anunciado que las elecciones presidenciales y legislativas, previstas para su celebración el 14 de febrero, se aplazarán hasta el 28 de marzo, por motivos de seguridad. En los comicios, los más reñidos desde el fin de la dictadura en 1999, el actual presidente del país, primera potencia económica del continente africanos, Goodluck Jonathan, se juega la reelección frente al líder de la coalición opositora, el general Muhammadu Buhari, que ya ocupó el poder a mediados de los ochenta. Jonathan, que guardó silencio tras el ataque de Boko Haram a la ciudad de Baga, que costó la vida a cerca de 2000 personas, ve como su política de reelección sufre un trapiés inesperado.

 

El presidente de la INEC, Attahiru Jega, ha explicado en rueda de prensa que el organismo está preparado para que se celebren las elecciones. El problema radica en la insurgencia del grupo terrorista islamista Boko Haram, que ha obligado al Ejército a volcarse en el noreste del país, con lo que no se considera que hayan unas medidas de seguridad mínimas, ha informado el diario Vanguard.

 

 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/jega-reschedules-elections-march-28-april-11/

"La comisión no puede ignorar a la ligera las advertencias de los jefes de seguridad... El riesgo de instar a la gente a ejercer sus derechos democráticos en una situación donde la seguridad no está garantizada exige una enorme responsabilidad", ha manifestado Jega. 

 

La violencia brutal y creciente de la secta islamista radical, Boko Haram ("la educación occidental está prohibida", en lengua hausa), que ansía un califato en el noreste del país, ha causado la muerte de miles de personas en los dos últimos años. Las elecciones a gobernadores y al Senado nigeriano, así mismo, se aplazan del 28 de febrero al 11 de abril. Con estas seis semanas, la INEC perfeccionará las estrategias para que se consigan unas elecciones pacíficas, libres y justas, según ha manifestado el presidente de INEC, Jega.