By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 17
-- On Boko Haram
and the
abducted and
enslaved
school girls
in Nigeria,
French president
Francois
Hollande on
May 17 said
his Nigerian
counterpart
Goodluck
Jonathan had
asked France
to take the
lead.
If that is
true, why
would it be?
Even Hollande
said France would
not directly
act, only
provide
training, intelligence
and drones, as
the US and UK
are doing.
Inner City
Press would
note that
Nigeria fought
of British
colonialism,
and so would
turn elsewhere
in Europe for
a sponsor, at
least of such
a conference.
The colonial
card was
repeatedly
raised by
Hollande, who
bragged on May
17 about
intervention
in Mali --
saying France
has "only" one
thousand
troops left
there, amid
new fighting
in Kidal, and
the Central
African
Republic.
Ironically
Hollande said
Boko Haram
gets weapons
from Libya --
where France
air dropped in
weapons into
the Nafusa mountains.
If as Hollande
claims there
was not enough
follow up,
whose fault is
that?
So as Hollande
popularity
collapses in
France itself,
is FrancAfrique
growing?
Hollande made
claims of
commitment to
freedom of
information.
But his outgoing
ambassador at
the UN Gerard
Araud has
refused to
answer critical
Press
questions
about French
Serval and
Sangaris
forces actions
in Mali and
CAR. Herve Ladsous
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to run UN
Peacekeeping outright and repeatedly refuses
Press
questions,
based on his
own role in
the Rwanda genocide
in 1994, Ladsous
memo here.
Meanwhile a
recently-circulated
UN report on
Children and
Armed Conflict
has two pages
on Boko Haram
and Nigeria,
as a
“situation not
on the agenda
of the
Security
Council”
(although
Nigeria is an
elected member
of the
Security
Council for
2014-15).
The
report shows
the state of
knowledge of
Boko Haram's
attacks on
children and
students well
before the
most recent
kidnappings.
The report at
Paragraph 182
expresses
particular
concern at
“targeted
attacks on
schools by
Boko Haram,
which were on
the increase
in Yobe and
Borno States
since October
2012 and
throughout
2013,
resulting in
the killing of
at least 100
children and
70 teachers.”
And
what was done?
The UN
report
continues, “in
March 2013, at
least 11
schools in
Borno State
were attacked
resulting in
the killing of
at least seven
teachers and
three
children. In
June, two
secondary
schools were
attacked in
Yobe and Borno
States,
resulting in
the killing of
seven school
children and
two teachers
in Yobe and
eight boys and
two girls in
Borno. In
July, a Boko
Haram leader,
Abubakar
Shekau,
publicly
stated that
they would
burn schools
and kill
teachers and
the group
claimed
responsibility
for an attack
on 6 July on a
secondary
school in
Mamudo, Yobe
State, killing
at least 29 1
children and
one teacher,
some of them
burned alive.”
The
“1”
after the
figure 29 does
not lead to
any footnote.
These
advance copies
have been
known to be
changed before
"final"
release, in a
process for
which a description,
and then proposals
for reform,
were provided
here
and then
here.
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