Boko Haram - as people used to say - sleep worried!

14/05/14

The United States has begun conducting air surveillance missions over Nigeria to try to track down 276 Christian girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group. This is what we read on the official website of the Africa Command.

The US has deployed manned spy planes (and probably drones even if there is no confirmation of the use of UAVs) in order to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, as well as some aircraft directly operated by the State Department.

Near the border with Nigeria, AFRICOM runs a base for UAVs in support of French troops operating against Islamic militants in Mali.

Nigeria is the 14 ° largest country in Africa, with an area of ​​over 350 thousand square kilometers, twice California.

According to the latest rumors, the kidnapped girls could have been divided into small groups (by 80 / 100 units), so as to make it difficult to identify them and extremely quickly move around the country. The position is still unknown.

According to the latest satellite images acquired, two bridges crossing the Nigerian borders with Chad and Cameroon were destroyed last week. This could make some assumptions about the passage of at least one of the groups.

The United States has sent around thirty units from the departments of State and Defense. Among them are five State Department officials, two strategic communication experts, a civil security expert and a medical support officer. The group also includes four FBI Hostage Rescue Team officials. The Pentagon has confirmed sixteen other units of the Department of Defense.

The search and rescue mission, meanwhile, continues to receive international support. Israel has also been added to the United States, France, Canada and Great Britain. At the moment the nature of the team is not known, but the Israelis are used to not dealing with terrorists and to acting by giving the enemy maximum physical and emotional damage. In short, Boko Haram, soon, could find itself a multinational rapid intervention force that would erase them from the face of the planet, considering the technological and logistical support it would receive.

To date, and it is good to note it, there is no planned allied rescue mission, but it seems superfluous to add that the countries that are contributing to the search for the hostages, have in Nigeria at least one operating group 'shadow', able to activate themselves in very little time.

Should Boko Haram deal sensibly with releasing hostages, the situation could slowly improve without further bloodshed.

If Boko Haram, about 1500 men, were to start killing hostages instead, armed intervention would certainly be encouraged and promoted by world public opinion.

In that case, the terrorists could find themselves facing a command formed by Delta, Tier-1, men of the Parachutist Regiment of Marine Infantry and the Foreign Legion, British units of the SAS and the Israeli Sayeret.

China, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria are contributing to the research mission with satellite images. Moscow condemned the episode, but could use the 'Boko Haram' issue to rebuild an international image. In fact, if Moscow decides to send troops, this could be the first attempt to mend the tears with the West following the crisis in Crimea.

Political fiction at the moment, but considering the emotional impact caused by the abduction of poor girls, a Russian intervention cannot be excluded, considering the good relations that have always existed between the countries of Africa and Moscow (especially for the supply of arms) .

The latest video released by the Nigerian group Boko Haram dates back to yesterday. The images show about 100 Christian girls kidnapped while praying to Allah. They all wear black and gray hijabs and recite the declaration of Islamic faith. The leader Abubakar Shekau also stated that he would release the girls in exchange for some prisoners guarded by the government.

The corrupt and incapable Nigerian government has not commented on Shekau's request, but the criticisms for how the story was handled are not abated.

According to Amnesty International, Nigerian security forces were aware of the presence of a Boko Haram convoy near the city of Chibok, four hours before the abduction, but they did nothing to stop the terrorists.

Franco Iacch