Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan canceled a planned visit Friday to the town where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted last month by Islamist militant group Boko Haram. Jonathan cited security concerns after news of the trip leaked to the media.
The route from the capital of Abuja to the town of Chibok would have taken Jonathan’s convoy through disputed and dangerous territory, the Associated Press reports.
Reports of disgruntled under-fed and outgunned Nigerian troops have stoked fears of mutiny. The AP reports that soldiers have told the news service some in their ranks fight alongside Boko Haram.
This year alone, 1,500 civilians have been killed amid fighting between government soldiers and insurgents from the country’s Muslim north. The trip would have been a first for Jonathan, a southern Christian who has been accused of not doing enough for the country’s violence-wracked and predominantly Muslim north.
[AP]
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