Profile: Who are Nigeria's Ansaru Islamists?

Nigeria's militant Islamist group Ansaru has proved to be a formidable threat during its short existence, using dynamite to penetrate heavily-fortified compounds and taking foreigners hostage - seven of whom it said it had killed on Saturday.

Ansaru was formed in January 2012, though it rose to prominence only about six months later through the release of a video in which it vowed to attack Westerners in defence of Muslims worldwide.
"For the first time, we are glad to announce to the public the formation of this group that has genuine basis," said a statement issued by the group in January 2012 and quoted in local media.
"We will have [a] dispassionate look into everything, to encourage what is good and see to its spread and to discourage evil and try to eliminate it."
Its full Arabic name, Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, means: "Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa".
This suggests that it has a wider regional agenda, with the UK listing Ansaru as a "terrorist group" linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Ansaru at a glance

• Based in Nigeria
• Suspected to be an off-shoot of Boko Haram, another militant Islamist group in Nigeria
• Listed by UK government as a "terrorist organisation" aligned with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
• Released a statement in January 2012 to announce its existence
• Said it would target non-Muslims "in self-defence"
• Full Arabic name is Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan (loosely translated it means: "Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa")

Just two months after it was formed, the UK said the militant group had killed a Briton and an Italian taken hostage in the north-western state of Sokoto after a failed attempt to rescue them.

Then in December 2012, it abducted French national Francis Colump, 63, following an attack on a well-guarded compound in the northern town of Rimi, about 25km (15 miles) from Katsina city.
About 30 Ansaru gunmen used dynamite to force their way into the compound, seizing Mr Colump who, officials, said, was working on a wind power project.
It carried out a similar attack in February 2013, capturing seven foreign nationals from a housing compound owned by the Lebanese construction company Setraco.
It said the attack was to avenge "transgressions" by European nations in Mali and Afghanistan, where Western forces are battling Islamist insurgents.
On Saturday, it released a video saying it had killed the "Christian" hostages because the UK and Nigerian forces were planning an operation to rescue them - an allegation the UK denied.
'Lost dignity of Muslims'
It has also carried out attacks on Nigerian targets.
In January 2013, Ansaru said it had carried out an attack which killed two Nigerian soldiers as they prepared to deploy to Mali.

End Quote Abu Ussamata al-Ansary

The group said it targeted the troops because the Nigerian military was joining the French-led military campaign to "demolish the Islamic empire of Mali".

French journal Jeune Afrique-L'Intelligent says Ansaru is led by the little-known Abu Ussamata al-Ansary.
It quoted a statement by him as saying that the Nigerian government was "incapable of defending Muslims in inter-religious violence with Christians".
The group also said it was fighting to reclaim "the lost dignity of Muslims of black Africa" and the creation of an Islamic caliphate from Niger to Cameroon and northern Nigeria.
Analysts believe it is an off-shoot of Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, rather than across the region.

"To some, the sect headed by Ansary is seen as one that will compliment the 'struggle' by the Boko Haram sect under Imam Abubakar Shekau but to many it is an indication that all is not well with the leadership of the Boko Haram sect and that there has been conflict about its ideology and its understanding of Islam," wrote journalist Tukur Mamu in Nigeria's Desert Herald newspaper last year.

Boko Haram has been blamed for many bombings across northern Nigeria in recent years

"Hence, the decision to form a new group."
According to Nigeria's Standard newspaper, Ansaru has denounced Boko Haram's style of operation as "inhuman to the Muslim ummah [nation]", an apparent reference to killing of innocent Nigerians - Christian and Muslim - through bombings and assassinations.
"Islam forbids killing of innocent people, including non-Muslims. This is our belief and we stand for it," Mr al-Ansary said in the video released last year.
But Mr al-Ansary added that non-Muslims can be killed "in self-defence or if they attack Muslims", which seems to explain the killing of Nigerian soldiers to be deployed to Mali.
However, analysts say it does not justify the killing of civilian hostages - unless Ansaru holds them accountable for the actions of Western governments in countries such as Mali, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Analysts believe that Nigeria's government will find it more difficult to end the Islamist insurgency now that two groups are operating.
The government is said to be working with counter-terrorism experts from several countries - including the US and UK - in an attempt to neutralise the threat posed by Boko Haram and Ansaru, amid fears that they could worsen instability across West and central Africa.

Courtney Morgan - Nigeria hostage murder: Brendan Vaughan's family 'saddened'

Nigeria hostage murder: Brendan Vaughan's family 'saddened'

 

Relatives of a British construction worker thought to have been murdered by a Nigerian Islamist militant group have said they are "shocked and saddened".

Brendan Vaughan's family said he was a "lovable rogue" who "lived his life to the full and on his own terms".
Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday that Mr Vaughan, 55, from Leeds, was "likely" to have been killed, along with six other foreigners.
The workers were captured in a raid on a construction site on 16 February.
Ansaru, a suspected off-shoot of the Boko Haram network, said it had carried out the attack in revenge for what it called atrocities by European nations against Islam.
An Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers were also seized in the raid on the Setraco construction site, in the northern state of Bauchi.
One security guard died during the assault.
In a statement, Mr Vaughan's relatives said: "The family of Brendan Vaughan, aged 55 from Rothwell, Leeds, are obviously shocked and saddened by recent events.
"Brendan, best described as a lovable rogue by everyone who knew him, lived his life to the full and on his own terms.
Grandfather-to-be
"He was a loved father, brother and fiance who was tragically killed on March 10th 2013."
The statement added that Mr Vaughan had been "deprived of meeting his first grandchild, a baby girl to be born in May.
"Brendan may be gone but will be never forgotten."
On Sunday, Mr Hague said Mr Vaughan was "likely to have been killed at the hands of his captors, along with six other foreign nationals.
"This is an unforgivable act of pure, cold-blooded murder, for which there can be no excuse or justification."
On Monday, the militant group purportedly posted a video online with the caption: "The killing of seven Christian hostages in Nigeria."
In it, a gunman with a rifle is seen standing in the sand next to several bodies, the Associated Press reports.
The video appears to match grainy images of bodies posted online by Ansaru on Saturday.
In an accompanying online statement, the militant group said it had killed the captives.

Courtney Morgan - Maiduguri: The Nigerian city gripped by insurgency

Rare footage from inside Nigeria's hidden conflict

Since 2009, northern Nigeria has been gripped by a bloody insurgency as militant group Boko Haram continues its quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. Visiting the Boko Haram stronghold Maiduguri is dangerous, so a BBC reporter filmed with a concealed camera to reveal what life is like for citizens caught in the crossfire. The journalist's identity has been concealed for security reasons.

The city of Maiduguri is an hour's flight from the Nigerian capital Abuja, or a gruelling 900km (560-mile) drive, with no exact time of arrival because of the countless checkpoints along the way - manned by heavily-armed soldiers in full combat gear, many of them hiding behind dark goggles.
Troops on the lookout for the next suicide bomber stand guard on street corners, their positions protected by sandbags.
The streets are lined by deserted buildings, peppered with bullet holes, and people must abide by a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
Banks close at 1300, markets from 1600, and many children are no longer able to attend school after buildings were burnt down.

 The Boko Haram group behind the faceless campaign of terror gripping the city, is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.

Drive-by motorbike assassinations of politicians and policemen became their modus operandi, but their activities have grown in confidence and scale, spreading to other states in the region too.
The group's official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means: "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad".

But Maiduguri's residents dubbed them Boko Haram, which loosely translated from the local Hausa language means: "Western education is forbidden".

The group promotes a version of Islam which forbids Muslims from taking part in any political or social activity associated with Western society, including voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education.

Brutal crackdown

The group has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.

Maiduguri locals say this building is a feared detention centre and have nicknamed it Guantanamo

"As it is, you can't even tell if your neighbour is a member," one Maiduguri resident told me, "and you dare not talk about them in public."
Boko Haram's members are so well-embedded in the community here, that it is almost impossible to know who is Boko Haram and who is not.
The Nigerian state has responded by deploying the Joint Task Force (JTF), an elite military and police intelligence force, and the crackdown has been brutal.
People are being killed by unknown gunmen and the military is accused of killing and detaining innocent people without trial.
Many people are fleeing because of the insecurity and entire neighbourhoods in this once-prosperous city are now completely deserted because the army has warned residents to relocate, so they can try to "weed out" members of Boko Haram.
One of the displaced agreed to take me to his house. On an eerily quiet street, he unlocked a padlock to show me around the dusty, cobwebbed four rooms where he once happily lived with his family.
"It's been over four months since I left this house," he explained.
"There was an incident in the neighbourhood and soldiers told us to leave and the house has been locked since then. I have been trying to return but I am scared because I don't know what would happen."
One widow told me her husband was killed in 2011 by soldiers on a sweep for Boko Haram. She says he pleaded he had nothing to do with the insurgents but they shot him in the street.
"We heard gunshots while at home and thought Boko Haram had attacked the area," the 28-year-old mother of four told me.
"Outside we saw a military vehicle so we ran in the direction of the soldiers seeking their help. Soldiers pushed us into the gutter and took matches and kerosene from inside my house. Then they burnt my house down.
"Witnesses saw soldiers talking to my husband for 15 minutes. Then they shot and killed him and burnt his car."
'Empty promises' Almost every family I meet has a grim story to tell.

Twelve-year-old girl

Many parents told me their young adult male children have been in military detention for several months and they have not been allowed to visit them.

Sources say there are thousands of young men being held in various detention centres across the city.
"They took my son while he was sleeping and slapped his wife who was six months pregnant," one woman told me.

"It's been a year and eight months now since they took him and I haven't heard anything. I have tried my best to know why he is being held, but without success. The soldiers keep saying that they would release our children but it is all empty promises."

Both the Nigerian constitution and Terrorism Prevention Act clearly state that detainees should be brought to court within a reasonable time. But one of Maiduguri's top lawyers told me that has not been happening.

"People are in detention in JTF custody since 2011," he told me, "since they came to Maiduguri they did not take a single person to court."

When asked about allegations of detentions and human rights abuses by serving military officers, Nigerian Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika told the BBC:
"I've not received a single case against any single identified soldier or officer as Chief of Staff."

The bloody insurgency here has left hundreds of children without parents. Without any welfare protection, those not taken in by sympathetic relatives often end up on the streets.
Some of the more fortunate come to the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation orphanage, where free breakfasts and primary education are provided for children whose parents have been killed by either the army or the insurgents.
The school is so popular it has a lengthy waiting list.
I visited at playtime while the pupils played outside in the sunshine. But behind the chanting and clapping, almost every child has a chilling story to tell.
"Two men broke into our house in the middle of the night and pulled my father from his mosquito net," one 12-year-old girl told me. "They shot him, slit his throat and used water from our kettle to clean their knife.
"My mother covered the body and we prayed."
Across Nigeria, many worry that if resentment against the state builds, it may make recruitment for the insurgents easier.
And as Boko Haram widen their campaign by kidnapping foreigners to reflect their wider regional ambitions, it seems there is no end in sight to the conflict plaguing the country.
This report was first broadcast on BBC Newsnight on Tuesday 12 March, 2013.

Courtney Morgan - Nigeria: Rescue effort for capsized Gabon-bound boat

A boat carrying 160 people has capsized off Nigeria's coast, workers in charge of the rescue effort have said.

So far only two people are known to have survived.

The wooden vessel set off from south-eastern Nigeria on Friday heading to Gabon - a popular route for traders moving between West and Central Africa.

The BBC's Tomi Oladipo in Lagos says these trips last for several days in poor safety standards, and boat accidents are common.

The boat left the remote town of Oron in Cross River state and was heading across the Gulf of Guinea when it capsized 40 nautical miles (74km) offshore, officials say.

Rescuers working off the coast of Cross River state's main city of Calabar say they have recovered dozens of bodies of passengers who drowned.

The two known survivors, a young boy and a woman, clung to a gas cylinder before they were found by fishermen, Cross River state emergency official, David Akate, told Reuters news agency.

DHL Global Forwarding – Sub Saharan Africa

(COURTD) Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, and today employing in excess of 470,000 people in over 220 countries and territories worldwide, Deutsche Post DHL has become a name synonymous with couriering and logistics. The world’s leading mail and logistics group, it generated revenues of €55.5 billion during 2012, representing an increase of 5.1 percent comparing to previous year. This increase mainly reflects the exceptional market position that DHL maintains in the world’s growth regions, such as Asia and Africa.
When it comes to Global Forwarding, DHL is the world leader in air freight services and one of the biggest providers of ocean freight services. Through the work of its 30,000 employees, DHL Global Forwarding (DGF) helps ensure the transport of all manner of goods by air or sea on a daily basis.
“At the beginning of 2012,” states Roger Olsson, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding – Sub Saharan Africa, “DGF merged three previously separate regions, Europe, the Middle East and Africa into a single EMEA region. This consolidation allowed DGF to better coordinate its commercial activities and improve operational efficiencies between countries.”
Meanwhile, this event also brought about the establishment of some sub-regional offices, one of which would open in Johannesburg, South Africa. “From this office,” Olsson continues, “we have a regional team committed to improving the group’s activities in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. It also means that for the very first time, DHL is now running its African operations from within the continent itself.”

Sub-Saharan Africa is made up of no fewer than 48 different countries, with DHL today boasting offices and capabilities in 41 of these. The remaining seven are covered through the groups’ work with credible local partners.
“When it comes to DGF’s operation in Africa,” Olsson explains, “having the biggest overall coverage of any other logistics provider is understandably vital. In addition, we are also able to leverage our global presence to cater for the vast number of businesses that are working to bring cargo into and out of the continent.”
Olsson also shares the belief held throughout DHL that the people that make up its workforce are just as vital a component to its success as its global coverage. “We have dedicated people throughout the business who know better than anyone else how to expertly deliver the type of services we provide. At the end of the day you can have the largest network in the world, but without the right people on hand to make it work you will never get very far.”
With its GDP growth outlook estimated to remain around 5.5 percent over the next three years, Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to remain the region with the second highest growth rates worldwide, after Asia for the foreseeable future. Some of the more tangible opportunities for a multinational logistics player like DHL are the recent oil & gas discoveries in Eastern Africa, and the immense natural and mining resources found throughout the region. It is however important not to ignore the more traditional logistics sectors that DHL serves, namely engineering, automotive and the consumer-sector.
“The oil and gas industry,” Olsson reveals, “accounts for roughly half of our entire business today in the Sub-Saharan space. It is for this very reason alone that we continue to invest more and more in this area of our operations as the opportunities available to us are simply unbelievable, particularly as major oil and gas undertakings further help put countries like Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda on the map. Following just behind in terms of importance is the mining sector where we also have a special focus, leveraging our global expertise when it comes to the industry to assist in the development of business across Sub-Saharan Africa.”
As an organisation, the work of DHL goes beyond simply doing business with its customers. One of the achievements it is most proud of has been the development of a comprehensive strategy to fulfil its Corporate Social Responsibility requirements. In Africa it has helped spearhead the “Go Teach” programme. Sustained through an existing partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, the programme aims to provide disadvantaged youths with the confidence, knowledge and skills needed to enter the world of employment. Furthermore, DHL supports Global Volunteers Day, an annual event that sees thousands of its employees volunteer to carry out environmental and community related activities.
As DGF makes plans for the future its focus looks set to revolve around increasing its service offerings and capabilities in such a way that it will be able to deliver the same kind of door-to-door service in Africa that it currently does elsewhere in the world.
“Achieving this goal,” Olsson concludes, “will no doubt bring with it challenges of its own. Nevertheless we see it as absolutely fundamental to our business that we are able to deliver ever-improving service levels and product offerings that allow us to service the entire logistics chain here in Africa, from origin to final destination. What we benefit from is having a clear strategy and vision for the future, one that we hope will result in DGF being the first choice solutions provider for its customers in Sub-Saharan Africa, growing up our market share in the process. This will be accomplished by expanding into sectors with a seamless end-to-end service offering and a broad product portfolio, by developing best-in-class operational capabilities.”

Sub-Saharan Africa to see 5.8 percent growth this year - AfDB

 

Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to show robust 5.8 percent growth this year, with domestic demand playing a key role, but business must do more to promote a more inclusive society, the African Development Bank said on Monday. "We are looking at growth of around 5.8 percent this year in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa it would be 6.2 percent," AfDB president Donald Kaberuka said on the sidelines of a business briefing.

Growth prospects for the region were "slightly higher" than 2012, Kaberuka added.

The World Bank forecasts growth of 4.9 percent this year for sub-Saharan Africa, with South African growth seen at 2.7 percent.

Growth in Africa has been strong in the past few years, compared with anemic growth in much of the developed world. The World Bank sees global growth at 2.4 percent this year, with high income countries expected to see a rise of only 1.3 percent.

Mining and resources only contributed around 30-32 percent towards sub-Saharan African growth, Kaberuka said, with consumer demand, infrastructure, financial services and agri-business the other main contributors.

Kaberuka said he hoped to outline plans at the bank's annual meeting in Marrakech in May for an infrastructure bond totaling up to $24 billion, backed by the AfDB and bought by African central banks, to help investment in the region.

But the AfDB president told the briefing that despite rapid growth on the continent, Africa still suffered from too much poverty and wealth inequality, and needed to make more progress towards creating an inclusive society.

"A lot needs to be done about equity...especially around natural resources management," Kaberuka said, adding that AfDB calculations showed wealth inequality has been rising in Africa by around 1.5 percent a year since 2000.

"Sometimes it seems that the rent-seeking elites and the extractive industry business live off each other. Otherwise, how can we explain that a country pumps out two million barrels of oil a day and yet half live below the poverty line?"

Both policymakers and investors had their part to play in spreading wealth more evenly, Kaberuka said.

"Perhaps for too long we have been pointing fingers at governments, businesses have a responsibility here as well," he said. "This is Africa's trouble, which prevents us going to the next level." (COURT D)

Courtney Morgan - Kano blast: Nigeria bus station bomb toll rises

The bus station was primarily used by passengers heading to the mostly Christian south of Nigeria

The number of people killed in a suicide car bomb attack at a bus stop in the Nigerian city of Kano on Monday has risen to at least 22, police say.

Several buses were destroyed in the attack in the Sabon Gari district - which is home to many Christians from southern Nigeria.
No group has admitted responsibility, but Islamist Boko Haram militants have previously attacked Kano.
It is the largest city in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria.
Several witnesses told Reuters that one of the buses targeted was full when the explosion happened, and was completely destroyed. At least 65 people were injured.
Police say two suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden car into the station in a Christian enclave in the predominantly Muslim commercial centre.
The BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano says that security in the city has been substantially tightened following the blast, with the area of the explosion almost completely sealed off.

In January 2012, about 150 people died in Kano in a series of co-ordinated attacks by Boko Haram.
The group is fighting to overthrow the Nigeria government and create an Islamic state.
It is also believed to have a presence in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Our correspondent says that the targeted bus station is primarily used by passengers heading to the mostly Christian south of Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the violence. A statement from his office said that this "barbaric incident will not deter the federal government from its strong-willed determination to overcome those who do not mean well for this nation".
Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer. It is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.