Boko Haram Is Not A Branch Of Al Qaeda ........... United States

The United States Government has said that the Islamic sect, Boko Haram should be treated as it ‘’own terroris group. US says Boko Haram is not a branch of the global terrorist organisation, al-Qaeda.

President Goodluck Jonathan had during the France security summit on the menace of the insurgent group on Saturday, described the Boko Haram sect, as the “al Qaeda of West Africa.”

A statement by the US Consul General in Lagos on Monday quoted the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, as saying this on the sidelines of the summit hosted by French President Francois Hollander in Paris on Saturday.

She said, “Boko Haram is its own terrorist group, and the United States has designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. In this day and age, there is probably no terror group that does not have some links somehow, even if tenuous, to some other organisation. But for the most part, we treat Boko Haram as its own terror organisation.

“When you have sanctions at the UN, it does do asset freezes, travel freezes, a variety of things. It depends on how the designation is done. But I imagine this will happen rather quickly. Quite frankly, I can’t imagine any country who would not support this designation.”

Sherman added that the US was committed to supporting the Nigerian government in ensuring that the girls were brought back alive.

According to her, the abducted schoolgirls have become “the girls of the world, not just of Nigeria.” She added that all efforts were being put in place to ensure that the West Africa sub-region was not turned to a breeding ground for terror.

Insisting that the American people “are not putting boots on the ground” in Nigeria for the girls’ rescue, Sherman noted that only intelligence assistance would be provided.

However, the senior US official said she was unsure of the Nigerian armed forces capability to carry out a rescue operation in the event that the location of the abducted girls were tracked by the US and other allies.

“If it were to be a rescue operation, that’s a very specific skill set and not every army in the world has that skill set. I know that there are some training, that have gone on with units of the military in Nigeria to build those skills, in other words, special forces skills. Whether they’d be able to attempt a rescue, I think it would just depend on the circumstances,” Sherman said.