Foreign Hostages Taken in Nigeria

On Saturday (16/2/13) 7 foreign construction workers were taken hostage in Bauchi province norther Nigeria. The group is said to include 4 Lebanese, 1 British, 1 Greek and 1 Italian citizen. The kidnapping has since been claimed by Ansaru an Islamist group who are linked to Al Qeada and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) through Boko Haram.

As MUJWA is Britain and Qatar's command and control structure for Islamists across west Africa - particularly in Mali - this is pretty obviously an attempt to force Nigeria to commit more troops to the conflict in Mali. The idea being that the governments of Lebanon, Greece and Italy will now put great pressure on the government of Nigeria to get the hostages out safely. This will expose some of the short comings of the Nigerian army and Britain will be on hand to suggest that it could help train the Nigerian army if they commit more troops to Mali.

Or to put it another way; the no prison for Chris Brown equals no African force for Mali rule still seems to be in effect. With the first French troops leaving Mali yesterday (17/2/13) the US might want to seriously consider bringing that April Court date forward.

Elsewhere on the continent 12 people have been injured at the Anglo-American Platinum mine in Rustenburg, South Africa. The injuries occurred in clashes between mine workers affiliated with the Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema factions. Therefore I think it's time for the Judge in tomorrow's hearing to accept that there is no case for Oscar Pistorious to answer before the blow back gets too bad.


(Originally posted) 16:30 on 18/2/13.