Boko Haram Extends Reign of Terror in Nigeria

Timothy Spangler
Wed, 16 Apr 2014 09:20:42 -0700
Opinion

The battle for Africa continued this week as members of the Islamist militant organization Boko Haram kidnapped over 100 girls from a girls secondary school in Nigeria. This came only days after more than 70 people were killed when a bomb exploded at a bus station in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, which also left 124 people injured.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden," has been stepping up attacks in recent weeks across Nigeria. Once the Islamist militants stormed the school, they apparently spent several hours choosing the girls they would abduct and ferrying them away in transport trucks. In an attack on another school earlier this year, members of Boko Haram merely forced the girls to return to their villages.

The Abuja explosion made headlines around the world. The 6:30 a.m. explosion occurred less than 2 miles from where Nigeria's president lives, State House. Reports are circulating that a car bomb was used, which left a 3-foot-deep blast crater. Further injuries were caused when, as a result of the initial explosion, other cars in the parking lot caught fire. The scale of the injuries was so great that local hospitals soon began making public requests for blood donations in order to save as many of the injured patients as they could.
Updated: Thu Apr 17, 2014

The battle for Africa continued this week as members of the Islamist militant organization Boko Haram kidnapped over 100 girls from a girls secondary school in Nigeria. This came only days after more than 70 people were killed when a bomb exploded at a bus station in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, which also left 124 people injured.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden," has been stepping up attacks in recent weeks across Nigeria. Once the Islamist militants stormed the school, they apparently spent several hours choosing the girls they would abduct and ferrying them away in transport trucks. In an attack on another school earlier this year, members of Boko Haram merely forced the girls to return to their villages.

The Abuja explosion made headlines around the world. The 6:30 a.m. explosion occurred less than 2 miles from where Nigeria's president lives, State House. Reports are circulating that a car bomb was used, which left a 3-foot-deep blast crater. Further injuries were caused when, as a result of the initial explosion, other cars in the parking lot caught fire. The scale of the injuries was so great that local hospitals soon began making public requests for blood donations in order to save as many of the injured patients as they could.

It has been estimated that so far this year, Boko Haram is responsible for over 1,500 deaths as part of a campaign to undo Western influence in Nigeria and impose on the country a primitive version of Shariah. Traditionally based in Nigeria's northern states, Boko Haram has been expanding its influence more widely across the country.

Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, has promised his citizens that "the issue of Boko Haram is temporary." Unfortunately, the militants show little sign of letting up on their open warfare against the state and everyday Nigerians. Just one week earlier, 60 villagers in Kala Balge were killed by gunmen. Despite the state of emergency that Jonathan declared last year and the deployment of thousands of soldiers to Nigeria's northern states, claims by the Nigerian military leadership that significant progress has been made in stamping out Boko Haram seem to be over-optimistic at the very least.

Boko Haram was originally formed in 2002. Although its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in 2009, the group is now overseen by Abubakar Shekau and is believed to have links with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, al-Shabab and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. In a video released earlier this year, Shekau promised that the group's attacks will eventually expand to include the oil-rich southern states.

The focus on children has made many of the attacks by Boko Haram particularly grisly. In February, for example, gunmen locked students at the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi inside their dormitories at 2 a.m. and then proceeded to set the buildings on fire. Those students who tried to escape by climbing out of the windows were shot. Over 40 deaths resulted from the attack.

Despite receiving very little news coverage in the United States, the escalating violence in Nigeria and across Africa poses a serious threat to American security at home and American interests abroad. The new front line in the ongoing war on terror cuts across Africa, where Islamic militant groups have found a steady supply of both new recruits and soft targets.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has yet to prioritize these threats and develop a comprehensive strategy for combating terror in Africa. An attitude of "well, this should blow over soon" has been an insufficient response to mounting causalities and strengthening organizations. In particular, growing coordination among different terrorist groups across Africa appears to be further emboldening and empowering terrorists.

It is somewhat of a surprise that given President Barack Obama's strong personal ties to Africa, U.S. policy remains so vague and unambitious. Recent diplomatic setbacks on Ukraine, on Syria and elsewhere may have been short-term distractions, but the lack of a coordinated approach for Africa has been a hallmark of the Obama administration from its earliest days.

The principal lesson form 9/11 — namely, that safe havens in distant lands can provide the necessary space for terrorist organizations to plan and execute attacks on Americans thousands of miles away — seems to have been forgotten today by many in the White House and the State Department. It is not hard to envision Boko Haram or a similar group playing the same role as the Taliban did in Afghanistan during the late 1990s.

This battle for Africa could soon produce causalities much farther afield. Americans deserve a well-thought-out and well-executed strategy for ensuring that their security is not put at risk by African terrorist groups.