As tensions grow the U.S. Department of State has ordered that families of diplomats in Nigeria are to leave the country immediately.
The DOS cited the heightened risk of terrorist attacks in Abuja for changing the travel advisory notices to alert Americans not to travel to the city as of Oct. 27. Two days earlier the department authorized the evacuation of non-emergency US government employees and their families.
“U.S. citizens should consider departing Abuja using available commercial options,” the embassy said in its alert. “U.S. citizens who wish to depart but are unable to secure commercial options to do so can contact the U.S. Consulate in Lagos.”
The Department has warned any American citizens who do elect to travel to Nigeria to carry their passports and visas, to keep a low profile, and to stay alert in locations frequented by Westerners.
British and Australian governments have also issued similar alerts.
Islamic terrorists, such as Boko Haram, have been active in Nigeria since 2011. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a prison raid in July that lead to the escape of an estimated 440 inmates.
The State Department reports that ISIS-West Africa concentrates its attack on security and government forces. This is not the same for the Boko Haram group who does “not appear to discriminate between civilians and government officials when conducting attacks”
The terrorist groups’ attacks have caused significant property damage as well as injuries, abductions, and 20,000 to 30,000 deaths, they have been known to attack Christian organizations and schools.
” Terrorist actions by BH and ISIS-WA have contributed to the internal displacement of about two million people within the states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe, and the external displacement of more than 240,000 Nigerian refugees to neighboring countries, principally Cameroon, Chad, and Niger,” reads a statement from the State Department.
The Nigerian government has launched Operation Safe Corridor in 2015 to identify, re-radicalize, and reintegrate supporters of terrorism who were deemed to be “low threat.”
“From the outset, OSC has been conceived as a counter-terrorism strategy, with the aim of reducing the rank and file of the insurgents, and was initially primarily developed by the security services within Nigeria,” noted the Center for Democracy & Development. “Its focus is those who surrendered during the military onslaught, those who were conscripted to the Boko Haram insurgency against their will, and those who felt disenchanted with the activities of the leadership of the group.”
The efforts have been able to stop religious extremism and terrorism.
