U.S. Air Force men, drone go into action to rescue Chibok girls

More details emerged yesterday on the United States troops deployed to join the search for the Chibok girls kidnapped by extremist Boko Haram sect. A U.S. military spokesman said that the 80 personnel deployed in Chad to help find nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls are from the Air Force and have already begun their mission, using a drone and Global Hawks. Chuck Prichard, a spokesman at the U.S. military’s Africa command in Germany, said yesterday that the 80 Air Force personnel were previously stationed in the United States, though he did not disclose where in the U.S. President Barack Obama told Congress in a letter Wednesday about the deployment. Obama said the service members would help with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the nearby region. A senior U.S. official said the drone is a Predator and will be in addition to the unarmed Global Hawks already being used. The new flights will be based out of Chad and allow the military to expand its search to that country. Initially the flights were largely over Nigeria. Lt. Col. Myles Caggins said Wednesday that newly deployed forces will help expand drone searches of the region. About 40 of the troops make up the launch and recovering teams for the drone being deployed there and the other 40 make up the security force for the team. The girls were kidnapped last month from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. The United Nations (UN) Security Council has imposed sanctions against Boko Haram. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power welcomed the council’s action, calling it “an important step in support of the government of Nigeria’s efforts to defeat Boko Haram and hold its murderous leadership accountable for atrocities.” Nigeria, which is serving a two-year term on the council, asked the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida to add Boko Haram to the list of al-Qaida-linked organisations subject to an arms embargo and asset freeze. The 14 other council members had until 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) yesterday to object and none did. So the committee will now add Boko Haram to the al-Qaida sanctions list. By adding Boko Haram to the sanctions list, Power said, “the Security Council has helped to close off important avenues of funding, travel and weapons to Boko Haram, and shown global unity against their savage actions.” Nigeria’s U.N. Ambassador U. Joy Ogwu said Wednesday “the important thing is to attack the problem, and that is terrorism.” The al-Qaida sanctions list includes 62 entities and groups, and 213 individuals who are also subject to travel bans. At a summit in Paris on Saturday aimed at hammering out a plan to rescue the 276 girls, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said “Boko Haram is acting clearly as an al-Qaida operation.” The Nigerian president only reluctantly accepted outside help after years of insisting that Boko Haram was a local problem. French President Francois Hollande told the summit that Boko Haram is armed with weapons that came from Libya following the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, and the training took place in Mali before the ouster of its al-Qaida linked Islamist leaders. As for the money, Hollande said its origins were murky. Also yesterday, the presidents of Cameroon and Chad met to map out ways to combat the Islamist group, which has extended its violence from Nigeria to its neighbours. Presidents Paul Biya and Idriss Deby were also to examine security reports that some weapons used by Boko Haram came from Libya through Chad. The two leaders said they were meeting to fine-tune plans and reiterate the commitments they made in Paris on May 17 to wage war against Boko Haram. Colonel Didier Badjeck, spokesperson for Cameroon’s military, said the two governments were committed more than ever to fight Boko Haram alongside Nigerian forces. “We can not be indifferent when our brothers and sisters live in permanent fear from those who have taken upon themselves to use violence on everyone instead of a spiritual rearmament they claim to bring,” he said. Nyambelle Elvis, a Chadian expert on security issues, says the presidents of Chad and Cameroon had agreed to allow their forces to cross into the territories of each country in pursuit of terrorists and armed groups. He says there are accords that authorise security forces from the two countries to pursue “havoc wreakers” up to 30 kilometers from the border. He adds it was, therefore, necessary to reinforce that measure and increase mixed patrols in the border area. Nyambelle Elvis cites intelligence reports that Boko Haram has received sophisticated weapons from the Middle East and the Maghreb through Sudan and Chad to Nigeria and Cameroon. He said weapons also came in from Libya and that training of Boko Haram members took place in Mali when Islamist militants controlled the north of that country.