EXPOSED: Ammunition From US, Israel, Iran Used In Farmer-Herder Crisis In Nigeria – Report

A jarring intelligence report has found that ammunition from at least 21 different nations, including the United States and Israel are used in the farmer-herder crisis in Nigeria.

The report published by SB Morgan (SBM) Intelligence is entitled, ‘Report on small arms, mass atrocities and migration in Nigeria’ and was funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

TheCable reported that the SBM report, “using secondary sources of data including newspapers and research papers,” examined “the movement of arms and its relationship with mass atrocities as well as migration within Nigeria.”

Findings from the report revealed that proliferation of small arms in southern and northern Nigeria is responsible for the mass atrocities in the different parts of the country.

In the southern region, it said instances of such atrocities “include communal clashes, cultism, kidnappings, ethnic and religious clashes as well as militancy in the Niger Delta”.

“Southern Nigeria has established local arms manufacturing sector and there is also significant importation/smuggling from international sources,” it said.

The report said nations in East Europe and Asia “are the major sources of illegal arms in southern Nigeria”.

On northern Nigeria, the report identified the rise in small arms, mass unemployment as well as corruption as the cause of the high rate of criminality and violence in the region.

“Local manufactured arms, which are normally fabricated in small-scale factories, without legal permits, contribute to a large percentage of arms in circulation in northern Nigeria (especially in north central Nigeria,” it said.

It said in Benue and Plateau states “locally made weapons are estimated to be used in over 50% of crimes committed”.

The report revealed that Nigeria’s porous borders with neighbouring countries like Chad and Niger Republic facilitate the sourcing of weapons externally in the northern region.

“Ammunition from at least 21 different nations have been used in the herder versus farmer conflicts in north central Nigeria (some of these nations include Israel, Poland, Brazil, Iran, USA, Czech Republic, Algeria and Egypt,” it said.

The findings show that the mass atrocities have led to rise in the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country.

Recall that the United States has recently raised an alarm that the Al-Qaeda insurgent group has started penetrating the north-western part of Nigeria.

In recent times, there has been an increase in attacks in Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara and other north-west states.

During a media briefing, Dagvin Anderson, commander of the US special operations command, Africa, said Al-Qaeda is also expanding to other parts of West Africa.

In his remarks obtained from the US Department of State, Anderson said the US will continue to partner with Nigeria in sharing intelligence.

“We have engaged with Nigeria and continue to engage with them in intel sharing and in understanding what these violent extremists are doing,” he said.

“And that has been absolutely critical to their engagements up in the Borno state and into an emerging area of northwest Nigeria that we’re seeing al-Qaida starting to make some inroads in.

“So, this intelligence sharing is absolutely vital and we stay fully engaged with the government of Nigeria to provide them an understanding of what these terrorists are doing, what Boko Haram is doing, what ISIS-West Africa is doing, and how ISIS and al-Qaida are looking to expand further south into the littoral areas.”

Anderson regretted that despite successes recorded in previous years, there have been setback, adding: “We as a community of international nations, keep thinking we have defeated them or we have put them on their back foot and that they’re just moments from disintegration.”

“I think there’s two factors in that. One, it goes to that each government has to focus on this and provide that focus for international partners to engage with,” the US general said.

“The other part of this is we can’t underestimate the threat these violent extremist organisations pose. We, as a community of international nations, keep thinking we have defeated them or we have put them on their back foot and that they’re just moments from disintegration.

“I think after 20 years we have seen they are very resilient organisations that, although small, they’re able to leverage social media and other forms of media to have an outsized voice and that they continue to recruit and they continue to find opportunities.”

Anderson said for international efforts to yield desired results in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria, the government must take the lead.

“When it comes to Nigeria in general, Nigeria, obviously, is a critical nation to West Africa. It is a critical nation and we realize that Nigeria is a lynchpin,” he said.

”For that to have an effect against the VEOs and to have an effect against these stressors, it really takes the Government of Nigeria to lead that effort and to build that energy to coalesce around.

“So no nation can come in and fix that problem for Nigeria. We can assist with that – and it’s the United States can assist, the United Kingdom, other countries can come in, many countries can come and assist with that partnership – but ultimately it takes leadership from Nigeria in order for us to focus our efforts

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