PARIS // World powers approved an action plan to combat Boko Haram yesterday in what Chad’s president described as “a total war” against the militants.
The Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan and the leaders of Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger agreed with western officials to share intelligence and coordinate the fight against the Nigerian Islamist group.
The agreement came after Boko Haram attacked a Chinese company’s work camp across Nigeria’s border in Cameroon. One Chinese worker was killed and 10 are missing. The camp is in the same nearly trackless parkland where the schoolgirls were spirited away.
“There is determination to tackle this situation head on … to launch a war, a total war on Boko Haram,” said Chad’s president Idriss Deby.
“Boko Haram is no longer a local terrorist group, it is operating clearly as an Al Qaeda operation, it is an Al Qaeda of West Africa,” said Mr Jonathan.
The French president Francois Hollande also emphasised Boko Haram’s links with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations, and said the group was fundamentally opposed to civilisation.
Boko Haram offered to exchange the 223 girls who remain captive for jailed insurgents, and also threatened to sell them into slavery.
“Boko Haram’s strategy, contrary to all civilisation, is to destabilise Nigeria and to destroy the fundamental principles of human dignity,” Mr Hollande said. “More than 200 young girls threatened with slavery is the proof.” The group has ample funds, sophisticated weaponry and advanced training with some of the world’s most experienced terrorists, he said.
“This group is armed, with heavy weapons of an unimaginable sophistication and the ability to use them,” the French president said.
Officials have said there will be no western military operation.
On Friday, Mr Jonathan cancelled a trip to the town where the girls were seized, apparently because of security concerns. He defended his actions yesterday.
“What is of interest now is to locate the girls. The girls are not in Chibok,” said the Nigerian leader, whose last-minute cancellation of the visit was widely criticised.
“I will visit Chibok,” he said, but did not give a date.
British officials say Mr Jonathan, who has reluctantly accepted outside help, has ruled out swapping prisoners for the girls.
Nigeria is likely to refer the group to the United Nations Security Council for sanctions, a western diplomatic source said.
“Nigeria has agreed in principle to a draft resolution at the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Boko Haram.”
Britain offered to send advisers to help the Nigerian military organise its efforts to fight Boko Haram.
“Nigerian security forces have not been well structured for this kind of thing and that has been shown by the problem getting worse,” William Hague, the UK foreign minister, said.
Signs are growing that some Nigerian troops are near mutiny, complaining they are overwhelmed and outgunned by Boko Haram. Soldiers have said that some in the ranks actually fight alongside the group. Last year, Mr Jonathan said he suspected that Boko Haram members and sympathisers had infiltrated every level of his government and military, including the cabinet.
That complicates attempts to share intelligence. The US, France and Britain have all sent experts to help find the girls, but French and American officials have expressed concerns about how any information might be used.
The north-eastern region where the girls were kidnapped has suffered five years of increasingly deadly assaults by Boko Haram. Thousands have been killed, including more than 1,500 civilians this year.
Cameroon has begun to take the threat more seriously after years of dismissing it as a Nigerian problem.
France has negotiated the release of citizens held by Boko Haram in Cameroon and officials were hoping yesterday’s summit would set the outlines of a more international approach.
Chinese state media reported that 10 people were missing in the Friday night attack on the camp in a region where Boko Haram has previously abducted foreigners, including a French family of seven and a priest.
Mr Hollande’s administration successfully negotiated the release of the French citizens, and officials in Paris said France’s experience dealing with Boko Haram as well as its good relations with the governments concerned were the impetus for the summit.
* Associated Press with additional reporting by Reuters and Agence France-Presse
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Celtic Prince, David Liska (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).
7.05pm: Conditions Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Commanding, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
7.40pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Grand Argentier, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m
Winner: Arch Gold, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed Dh265,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
9.25pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Ibn Malik, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
10pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
