Clinton to meet Nigerian leader as Boko Haram attacks worsen

ABUJA: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Nigeria's president Thursday on her African tour as the continent's largest oil producer faces an Islamist insurgency raising deep concern among Western powers.

Clinton is due to arrive Thursday afternoon in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and a major supplier of US oil imports, for a brief stopover before travelling to Ghana for the funeral of president John Atta Mills.

Her visit comes as President Goodluck Jonathan is under growing pressure to stop the violence, with Islamist militant group Boko Haram having killed more than 1,400 people in northern and central Nigeria since 2010, according to Human Rights Watch.

Some US lawmakers have been pushing President Barack Obama's administration to label Boko Haram a terrorist organisation, but diplomats have resisted the designation, stressing the group remains domestically focused.

In June, the United States labeled suspected Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and two other Nigerian militants "global terrorists," allowing any US assets they may have to be blocked.

Shekau appeared in a video posted to YouTube last weekend dismissing the designation and criticising Jonathan.

"I think one of the key concerns is the insecurity around the country, especially arising around the activities around the Boko Haram sect," said Clement Nwankwo, head of the Abuja-based Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre civil society group.

He said Jonathan's administration "has not shown sufficient ability to understand how to tackle the problem."

Nigeria has provided some eight percent of US oil imports, and crude production, based in the country's south, has not been affected by the insurgency.

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