Anti-intellectualism

Boko Haram fighters on Feb. 1 launched a fresh attempt to take over the strategically crucial northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a brazen attack on a state capital just two weeks before national elections.

The African Union called Jan. 30 for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the "horrendous" rise of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants.
 
The call for collective action came as leaders of the 54-member bloc opened their two-day annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where they were addressing a string of crises across the continent.
 

African leaders meet on Jan. 30 for their annual summit with conflict topping the agenda, especially Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgents, as well as efforts to stem Ebola.

Serbia expresses "full solidarity" with Nigeria

BELGRADE -- The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended on Friday its deepest condolences to the federal government and people of Nigeria.

The condolences were sent "especially to families of the late and displaced people from the city of Baga."

BELGRADE - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia extended on Friday its deepest condolences to the federal government and people of Nigeria, particularly the families of the late and displaced people from the city of Baga.

Boko Haram fighters killed a woman as she was in labour during what is feared to be the deadliest attack in the militants' six-year insurgency, Amnesty International claimed on Jan. 15.
      

A Nigerian archbishop called Jan. 12 for the same international support to tackle Boko Haram as France has received since it was hit by Islamist attacks last week.
      

Nigeria's military has called for support in tackling Boko Haram after a major attack on a key northeast town that is feared could be the worst in the bloody six-year insurgency.
      
There are still no independently corroborated figures for the huge numbers said to have been killed in Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad in the far north of Borno State.
      

Boko Haram militants have killed dozens of people and burned down homes in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga in the past two days, in a second killing spree since seizing control there at the weekend, witnesses said on Jan. 8.
 

A bombing at a bus station in Gombe city in northeast Nigeria killed at least 20 people on Dec. 22, the latest violence in the region repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram, the Red Cross said.