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ABUJA, March 2 (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu
Buhari banned mining and imposed a no-flight zone in the
northwestern state of Zamfara on Tuesday, vowing to crack down
on lawlessness in the area in response to the abduction last
week of 279 schoolgirls, since freed.
Buhari ordered a "massive" deployment of military and
intelligence assets to restore normalcy to Nigeria's northwest,
National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno told journalists in
Abuja after a security council meeting.
The government "will not allow this country to drift into
state failure," he said in response to the abductions. "We are
not going to be blackmailed."
A series of school abductions in recent months has led many
Nigerians to worry that regional authorities are making the
situation worse by letting kidnappers go unpunished or paying
them off.
Buhari said earlier on Tuesday that the practice of paying
ransoms had encouraged kidnappers. The state government in
Zamfara has denied paying a ransom but said it offered the
kidnappers amnesty and help settling.
Zamfara is home to large gold deposits, with a legal mining
industry operating alongside illegal mines that the authorities
say have fuelled violence. The impact of a no-fly zone was
difficult to assess as the state has no major airport.
Armed groups have plagued the state and its neighbours in
recent years, kidnapping for ransom, looting and destroying
communities and murdering civilians. Security forces' attempts
to halt their rampage have met with little success.