... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, and now its neighbors are starting to take on the turbans, too.
African nations are opening up a new international front in the war on terror, discussing Friday the formation of a five-nation force of 7,500 troops to confront the looming regional threat from Boko Haram. The United States promised more technical support, training and equipment.
On Thursday, neighboring Chad sent a warplane and troops that drove the faceless myrmidons out of a northeastern Nigeria border town in the first such act by foreign troops on Nigerian soil.
"We saw the fighter jet when it started shelling and bombarding the bully boys," said Abari Modu, who watched the attack from a nearby village in Chad, where he had sought refuge. He praised the prowess of the Chadian forces.
Chad's victory, and the need for foreign troops, is an embarrassment to Nigeria's once-mighty military, brought low by corruption and politics. The foreign intervention comes just two weeks before hotly contested national elections in which President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
is seeking another term.
The offensive by Chad came days after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau warned Nigeria's neighbors not to intervene.
"African kings ... I challenge you to attack me now. I am ready," he taunted in an Arabic video message translated by SITE intelligence monitoring service. Shekau regularly praises the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group and al-Qaeda.
Boko Haram has declared an Islamic caliphate that now encompasses about 130 towns and villages in a large swath of northeastern Nigeria, according to