LAGOS (Reuters) –
A former leader of a Nigerian Islamic sect behind an uprising last year which killed hundreds of people has issued a statement expressing solidarity with al Qaeda and threatening the United States.

Abubakar Shekau, a former deputy leader of the Boko Haram sect who was thought to have been killed by police in last year’s fighting, offered condolences for the deaths of al Qaeda commanders in Iraq in the statement on a jihadist website.

“Do not think jihad is over. Rather jihad has just begun. O America, die with your fury,” the statement said, according to a translation published by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group.

SITE said the statement was addressed to al Qaeda affiliated groups in Algeria, Somalia and Yemen, as well as Iraq.

A five-day uprising by Boko Haram around the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri a year ago killed close to 800 people, as security forces fought days of gun battles to end rioting by sect members.

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NAIROBI, Jul 5 (IRIN) – “Crowd-sourcing” is a new buzzword in the world of
humanitarian information. The combined power of mobile phones, mapping
technology and social networking can enable citizens in crisis to seek
help, facilitate aid deliveries, bear witness to abuses and hold
governments and aid agencies more accountable, advocates say.

Crowd-sourcing
on platforms including Ushahidi,
for example, took place on an unprecedented scale after the January
2010 earthquake in Haiti. According to those involved, the impact it had
is undeniable: communities were able to report their needs while
accurate street maps were created for humanitarians and search and
rescue teams tried to save lives.

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“A symphony of death.” That’s the chilling phrase that Kurt Campbell, who is now Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama Administration, once used to describe the likely outcome of any military encounter on the Korean peninsula between the U.S., its ally South Korea and their mutual enemy across the 38th parallel in the North. The possibility of war breaking out once again in Korea is so unthinkable that a lot of people in various military establishments – the Pentagon, South Korea’s armed forces and China’s People’s Liberation Army – actually spend a lot of time thinking about it. The truce between North and South has lasted for 57 years, but a peace treaty has never been signed, and now, in the wake of the North’s attack on a South Korean naval vessel – and the South’s formal accusation that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo – tensions are at their highest level since 1994, when North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.”

Seoul has already made it clear that it will not seek military retaliation, and Washington and Beijing have said all the right things about trying to ensure that “cooler heads” prevail, as China’s State Councilor, Dai Bingguo, said in talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Beijing on Tuesday. But all concerned parties understand that at a moment of high tension, the possibility of hot war breaking out is not negligible. (See TIME’s photo-essay “The Iconography of Kim Jong Il.”)

How might a shooting war start? Defense analysts and military sources in Seoul and Washington agree that an outright, all-out attack by either side is unlikely. Even a nuclear armed North, a Seoul-based defense analyst says, “would not risk an all-out war because it would be the end of the regime. Period, full stop.” But there are ways in which smaller skirmishes could break out, and if they aren’t contained, they could conceivably lead to disaster. Here are three that are uppermost in defense planners’ minds:

The West Sea Redux
The site of the crisis – what Koreans call the West Sea (the Yellow Sea to everyone else) – remains the most obvious danger zone. Prior to the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, there had been three separate naval clashes in the past decade along the so-called Northern Limit Line. The NLL is the de facto boundary that was drawn in 1953 by the head of U.N. forces at the end of the Korean War. Some say the North has never recognized it; others claim that it implicitly did in a 1992 non-aggression pact signed with the South. With the sinking of the Cheonan – an obvious violation of the 1953 armistice – the West Sea is obviously the most sensitive flash point. After the sinking, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said that North Korean commercial ships – including fishing vessels that hunt for blue crab in the summer months in the South’s waters – could no longer venture below the NLL. Pyongyang responded by saying that, likewise, no ships from the South would be welcome north of the NLL. That means all sea-borne traffic from both sides needs to steer clear of the de facto border, lest “they get blown out of the water,” says a Western diplomat in Seoul. “That by definition, under these circumstances, is a fraught situation, given that both sides are on a hair trigger now.” (See pictures of the rise of Kim Jong Il.)

Loudspeakers at the DMZ
To much of the rest of the post–Cold War world, the idea seems slightly farcical: setting up big speakers on the southern side of the demilitarized zone and broadcasting – loudly – news and anti–North Korean propaganda across the border. To some it conjures up images straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (“I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries”). But it’s no joke. Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a think tank in Seoul, believes that South Korea’s plan to restart these broadcasts will likely infuriate North Korea. “Their military is already in a high state of emotion,” Cheong says. And indeed, North Korea has already said publicly that it will shoot at any speakers broadcasting from the southern side of the DMZ. The defense analyst in Seoul says that if Pyongyang were to follow through, it would be “a serious act of aggression, and South Korea must counter it.”

Read the whole hot breaking news

“A symphony of death.” That’s the chilling phrase that Kurt Campbell, who is now Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration, once used to describe the likely outcome of any military encounter on the Korean peninsula between the United States, its ally, South Korea, and their mutual enemy across the 39th parallel in the North. The possibility of war breaking out once again in Korea is so unthinkable that a lot of people in various military establishments – the Pentagon, South Korea’s armed forces, and China’s People’s Liberation Army – actually spend a lot of time thinking about it. The truce between North and South has lasted for 57 years, but a peace treaty has never been signed, and now, in the wake of the North’s attack on a South Korean naval vessel – and the South’s formal accusation that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo – tensions are at their highest level since 1994, when North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.”

Seoul has already made it clear that it will not seek military retaliation, and the U.S. and the Chinese have said all the right things so far about trying to ensure that “cooler heads” prevail, as China’s State Councilor Dai Bingguo said in talks with Hillary Clinton in Beijing Tuesday. But all concerned also understand that at a moment of such tension, the possibility of hot war breaking out is not negligible. (See TIME’s photo-essay “The Iconography of Kim Jong-il.”)

How might a shooting war start? Defense analysts and military sources in Seoul and Washington agree that an outright, all-out attack by either side is unlikely. Even a nuclear armed North, one Seoul-based defense analyst says, “would not risk an all-out war, because it would be the end of the regime. Period, full stop.” But there are ways in which smaller skirmishes could break out, and if not contained, could conceivably lead to disaster. Here are a three that are uppermost in defense planners minds right now:

The West Sea Redux: The site of the current crisis – what the Koreans call the West Sea (the Yellow Sea to everyone else) – remains most obvious danger zone. Prior to the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, there had been three separate naval clashes in the last decade along the so-called Northern Limit Line. The NLL is the de facto boundary drawn in 1953 by the head of U.N. forces at the end of the Korean War. Some say the North has never recognized it, others claim that it implicitly did in a 1992 non-aggression pact signed with the South. With the sinking of the Cheonan – an obvious violation of the 1953 armistice – the West Sea is obviously the most sensitive flash point now. In response, President Lee Myung-bak has said that no longer are North Korean commercial ships – including fishing vessels that like to hunt for blue crab in the summer months in the South’s waters – able to venture below the NLL. Pyongyang immediately responded and said likewise no ships from the South are now welcome north of the NLL. That means all sea-borne traffic from both sides need to steer well clear of the de facto border, lest “they get blown out of the water,” says one western diplomat in Seoul. “That by definition under these circumstances is a fraught situation, given that both sides are on a hair trigger now.” (See pictures of the rise of Kim Jong Il.)

Loudspeakers at the DMZ: To much of the rest of the post-cold war world, the idea seems slightly farcical: setting up big speakers on the southern side of the demilitarized zone, and broadcasting – loudly – news and anti-North Korean propaganda across the border. To some it conjures up images straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (“I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries…”) But it’s no joke. Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a think-tank in Seoul, believes South Korea’s plans to restart these broadcasts will likely infuriate North Korea. “Their military is already in a high state of emotion,” Cheong says. And indeed, North Korea has already said publicly that it will shoot at any speakers broadcasting from the southern side of the DMZ. The Korean defense analyst in Seoul believes that if they follow through, “it’s a serious act of aggression, and South Korea must counter it.”

Read the whole hot breaking news