Niea Milwaukee 2009 Again

Nigeria vows to fight terrorism

Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on August 31st, 2011

Nigeria's president has promised to bring terrorism under control, during a visit to the scene of Friday's bombing at the UN's headquarters in Abuja.

"Terrorist attacks on any individual or part of the world is a terrorist attack on the rest of the world," he added. "Terrorists don't care about who is anywhere."

"We will work with the UN and other world leaders to ensure that terrorism is brought under control."

When asked by the BBC what he would do about Boko Haram, he gave no direct answer but acknowledged it posed a threat.

"Boko Haram is a local group linked up with terrorist activities and as a government, we are working on it and we will bring it under control."

Our correspondent says Nigeria's government has tried negotiating with Boko Haram and cracking down hard, but neither tactic has worked.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that he condemned "this terrible act utterly", and sent Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro and Under-Secretary General for Security Greg Starr to Nigeria.

On Saturday, the UN's top official in Nigeria said nine of its staff were confirmed dead and that dozens were being treated in hospital.

"We have lost motivated, bright, selfless people who were working only for the good of Nigeria and the world," said Agathe Lawson, the UN's acting resident co-ordinator.

"Our priority now is to ensure those who are injured and the families of those who died are cared for."

Mr Lawson said that her "second and urgent priority" was to ensure that UN operations continued in Africa's most populous nation.

"We will not be deterred in our mission to work to improve the lives of Nigerians. This is why we are here," she added.

Shortly after President Jonathan left the bomb site, agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrived to help investigate.

"The FBI is on the ground at the request of the Nigerian government," said US embassy spokeswoman Deborah MacLean without elaborating.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here