Nigeria President Seeks State of Emergency Extension
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan asked lawmakers on Wednesday to extend a state of emergency declared in the northeast in May for an additional six months, saying the Islamist insurgency had not yet been contained.
Jonathan imposed the emergency measures in the states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, areas where he said Boko Haram insurgents had seized territory and chased out local officials, threatening Nigeria's sovereignty.
On May 15, the day after Jonathan's decree, the military announced the launch of a massive operation aimed at permanently ending the uprising, deploying thousands of additional troops and air power to the region.
"We have achieved considerable successes in containing the activities of the terrorist elements," Jonathan said in a letter sent to lawmakers in both chambers of Nigeria's parliament, which was seen by Agence France Presse.
"However, some security challenges still exist," he added, requesting the extension of "the state of emergency by a further period of six months with effect from November 12, 2013".
The success of the military offensive waged under emergency rule remains uncertain.
The military has described Boko Haram as in disarray and on the defensive but hundreds of civilians have been killed by the Islamists in recent weeks, casting doubt on those claims.
While lawmakers swiftly approved Jonathan's initial request for a state of emergency in May, it was not immediately clear if securing the extension would be as smooth.
"It looks like more people have been killed under the emergency than before the emergency," said Kyari Mohammed, a Boko Haram expert at the Modibbo Adama University in Yola, the capital of Adamawa.
He added that while the continuing massacres around Borno and Yobe may provide political justification for the extension, there was little evidence that the strategy over the last six months had been effective.
Attacks appeared to have partly shifted out of major cities into more remote areas but the number, scale and brutality of strikes blamed on Boko Haram militants have remained unchanged.
More than 100 students in the northeast have been killed under emergency rule in a range of massacres on mostly defenseless civilians.
In Borno state, the mobile phone network remains switched off, a move the military said would stop the Islamists from coordinating attacks but which critics say has stopped residents from sounding the alarm when attacks begin.
Mohammed noted Jonathan's bid to extend emergency rule in Adamawa will be "problematic", as the area has seen far less violence than Borno and Yobe and residents were growing increasingly frustrated.
Lawmakers will likely debate and vote on the request in the coming days.
Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.
The extremist group was founded in the northeast a decade ago but has expanded its insurgency since 2010 across the wider north, through suicide blasts as well as gun and bomb attacks.
Source: Agence France Presse
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