Dealing With Boko Haram in Nigeria

By Hiranmay Karlekar

25 February 2016 |

It is going to be a long haul. Improving intelligence and closing Africa's large ungoverned spaces where the militants seek refuge will be crucially important

The growing focus on the Islamic State has led to decline in public attention on the campaign against Boko Haram, the vicious fundamentalist Islamist militia active in Nigeria and parts of Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Mali in Africa. The military losses the outfit has suffered seems also to have contributed.

Boko Haram, which has killed 20,000, and displaced 2.5 million, people since 2009, continues to suffer reverses at the hands of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin acting in concert. Thus, in an operation stretching from February 11 to February 14, Cameroon's Special Forces threw the fundamentalist Islamist militia out of the north-eastern town of Goshi, killing 162 of its forces, destroying bomb factories and capturing weapons. Further, Nigerian troops claimed on February 18 that they had rescued 195 hostages taken by Boko Haram in raids across the country's north-eastern part.

The Nigerian Army's military successes owe much to efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress, who was elected to power in March, 2015. He has been much more vigorous than his predecessor, Mr Goodluck Johnson, whose lackadaisical approach had caused widespread dismay at home and in the West. President Buhari's strenuous efforts to revive the demoralised and corruption-ridden force, include the replacement of several top generals and charging number of senior officers with corruption.

He has appointed Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, a native of the northern Borno State, as the Army's Chief of Staff, and Mr Babagana Monguno, a retired general and another native of the region, his national security adviser. As for corruption, according to a report on February 18, 12 senior officers were being investigated in connection with a $2.1 billion scandal in which money meant to buy weapons to fight Boko Haram extremists was allegedly diverted, including to the former President's re-election campaign.

There have already been visible results. Arms, equipment and other supplies are now flowing regularly to troops whose morale has risen considerably. As important, President Buhari has improved relations with neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger and Cameroon, and Nigeria has joined them in a 8,700-strong regional military force to combat Boko Haram. Money is also forthcoming. The African Union's summit at Addis Ababa pledged, on February 1, a sum of $250 million to fight the Boko Haram.

The mounting pressure has clearly put the latter on the defensive and compelled it to abandon many of its entrenched strongholds and retreat into inaccessible areas. This, however, should by no means cause complacence. Boko Haram continues to attack, kill, destroy and abduct for holding people hostage. According to the news agency, AFP, it killed at least 30 people in attacks on villages in north-eastern Nigeria on February 12 night. Earlier, on January 29, it had killed at least 80 people in an attack on Dalori, a small town near Maiduguri, and burnt children to death in flaming houses. All this steeply underlines the need to do much more, particularly since Jihadi groups, namely, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, the IS and their respective affiliates, along with other jihadist groups, have also stepped up cooperation among themselves. One result has been transfer of technology, resulting, among others things, in the spread of suicide bombings to Libya, Tunisia and Chad and in the growing use of improvised explosive devices in Mali.

Clearly, it is going to be a long haul. Central to success will be how quickly and efficiently two issues are addressed. The first is that of dealing with the Boko Haram over Africa's large ungoverned spaces where they seek refuge under pressure. The multiple steps required include aerial surveillance and quick attacks by airborne Special Forces. Second, intelligence has to improve — a fact dramatically underlined by the failure to locate the 276 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014.

Source: dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/dealing-with-boko-haram-in-nigeria.html

 URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/dealing-with-boko-haram-nigeria/d/106459