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Nigeria’s president has said he has ordered “total war” against the armed group Boko Haram which last month abducted 219 schoolgirls in the north-eastern state of Borno.
Goodluck Jonathan made the comments yesterday in a televised speech that reassured the girls’ parents that his forces would free them.
“I am determined to protect our democracy, our national unity and our political stability, by waging a total war against terrorism,” Jonathan said in a televised speech to mark Democracy Day.
Jonathan also said he had authorised security forces to use “any means necessary under the law to ensure that this is done. I assure you . . . that these thugs will be driven away. It will not happen overnight, but we will spare no effort to achieve this goal.”
He said there would be “a full-scale operation to put an end to the impunity of terrorists on our soil”.
Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the capital Abuja, said the president’s speech had no information on what his government was doing to bring the abducted girls back home.
The phrase “total war” was used by Idriss Deby, the president of neighbouring Chad, following a meeting of West African countries in Paris in mid-May, designed to define a common strategy to fight Boko Haram.
The northeast of Nigeria is plagued by Boko Haram attacks and has been under a state of emergency since May 2013.
“With the support of Nigerians, our neighbours and the international community, we will reinforce our defence, free our girls and rid Nigeria of terrorists,” Jonathan said.
The Nigerian military said on Monday it had located the schoolgirls but that it would not use force to free them as that would put their lives at great risk.
Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh said any potential armed rescue operation was fraught with danger as the girls could be caught in the crossfire.
Nigeria has been battling Boko Haram for years without success, and has had to seek assistance from world powers such as the US, France, Britain and China to free the abducted girls.
meanwhile, hundreds of Nigerian government supporters have reportedly disrupted a rally calling on the country’s leadership to rescue more than 200 girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants last month.
According to Al Jazeera, the protesters accused government of organising the disruption, alleging that at least 30 buses had brought people from rural areas to cause chaos.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram attacked a village on Wednesday in the Nigerian state of Borno, killing at least 40 people and setting most of the houses ablaze, according to local media.
A resident of the village said that the few villagers who escaped unscathed had fled into nearby Chad.
The reported attack on a village followed Boko Haram’s attacks on Tuesday on police stations and military outposts, in which dozens of people were killed in Yobe state. — Sapa
derick.khumalo