US rewards tips on West African terror organisations

The US is offering, for the first time, rewards totaling USD 23 million for information on five key leaders of terrorist organizations in West Africa, it was announced here Monday. According to the State Department, its Rewards for Justice program is offering rewards for information on key leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA), and the groups known as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion and Boko Haram. It indicated that the Secretary of State John Kerry has authorized rewards of up to USD five million each for information leading to the location of AQIM leader Yahya Abu El Hammam and Signed-in-Blood Battalion leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar; rewards of up to USD three million each for information leading to the location of AQIM leader Malik Abou Abdelkarim and MUJWA spokesperson Oumar Ould Hamaha; and a reward of up to USD seven million for information leading to the location of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram. The Rewards for Justice program is administered by the US Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid more than USD 125 million to more than 80 people "who provided actionable information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide."