Boko Haram

What is Boko Haram?

• Islamic Name: Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad• An extremist Islamic sect in Nigeria that has engaged in guerilla

warfare across the north of Nigeria• Leader: Abubakar Shekau

What is Boko Haram? (continued)

• Among the most vicious terrorist groups operating in North Africa, home to some of the worst Islamic extremists in the world• The group is responsible for more than 4,000 deaths in 2014,

according to the Nigerian Security Tracker at the Council on Foreign Relations• Opposes the education of girls and has kidnapped girls to use as cooks

and sex slaves• Home base is the Sambisa Forest, a game preserve in Nigeria’s

northeast eight times larger than Yellowstone• Has several hundred to a few thousand fighters

GROUP GOAL

• Seeking to replace Nigeria’s government with a strict Islamic state

Boko Haram Leaders

• Created Boko Haram in 2002• A cleric• Aim is an Islamic state in Nigeria• Killed in 2009

• Current leader of the terrorist group• Surfaces sporadically in videotaped

messages• Born in Shekau village, which borders

Niger• He is also known as “Darul Tawheed,”

which translates to an expert in monotheism• Age is unknown• The U.S. State Department offered a $7

million reward in 2012 for information leading to his arrest

Mohammad Yusuf Abubakar Shekau

Boko Haram Motives/Beliefs

• believes politics in northern Nigeria has been seized by a group of corrupt, bad Muslims• driven by a desire for vengeance against politicians, police, and Islamic

authorities• They want to wage a war against them and the Federal Republic of

Nigeria generally in order to create a “pure” Islamic state ruled by sharia law• Nigerian Taliban, Taliban, Western Civilization is Forbidden• Western Education is a sin• Western Education is a Sacrilege

Threats from Boko Haram

• Their primary areas of focus have been in the northern states of Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno, and Kaduna• Recent sources suggest that the group is moving Southwards, with

several attacks being recorded• Boko Haram has planted bombs almost weekly in public or in

churches in Nigeria’s northeast• Broadened targets by setting fire to schools and suicide attacks on

churches• Continues to attack softer targets in the northeast

Major Dates

• March 7th 2015: Boko Haram announced the group’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS)• March 2012: some twelve public schools in Maiduguri were burned

down during the night, and as many as 10,000 students were forced out of education• August 2011: bombed the United Nations compound in Abuja, killing

twenty-three people• April 2014: over 300 Nigerian women and children went missing after

suspected Boko Haram Raid

Primary Source

• Hasiya Dashiru and her six children were held captive in Sambisa Forest for 11 months“The nights were dangerous. You never knew if one of the fighters would sexually assault you, said Hasiya Dashiru, 45. She said after their attacks, the members came back to the camp at night with young men — conscripts.”“Dashiru said she usually forced herself to sleep. For 11 months, she prayed that someone would rescue her and her four sons and two daughters, who had been kidnapped and were held captive with her.“She didn’t know that, for a long time, Nigerian military officials were hesitant about forging into the forest, saying they did not want to put the lives of hostages like her in danger — that the fighters might kill them in response. Sometimes the Boko Haram members permitted the hostages to look for water. Other times they were told to stay put and shut up.”As Dashiru said, “If we get water fine. If not, fine. We just stayed like that. They stopped us from getting water. Even when we told them it is for our children.”

Boko Haram Tactics

• Believes in violent attacks on government offices, the United Nations, and civilians threaten to destabilize Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon• Such as suicide bombings and fires• Used kidnappings and rapes to terrorize captive members• Threatened deaths and killings as a result of rescue

Women being used as Suicide Attackers• On June 11th 2015, three women wearing explosive vests blew up

near Maiduguri in an apparent failed suicide bombing attack on Nigeria’s northeastern city• Police say that the women’s body was blown in half by the explosions• Experts say most bombs strapped to girls and women are triggered by

remote devices, which they have no control over• Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of girls and women in a nearly

6-year uprising• Three other women died when their explosive vests detonated as

they were approached by soldiers while boarding a bus

Boko Haram extremists burn 6 Nigerian Villages

• On June 12th 2015, Boko Haram extremists have burned down six Nigerian villages and killed 37 people near the insurgents’ Sambisa Forest base• More refugees and survivors suffering gunshot wounds and burns• A primary source said, “It was really horrifying,” describing the Boko

Haram shooting from the back of pickup trucks and throwing firebombs that quickly set homes of thatched roofs and huts in flames

Boko Haram in the Media

• January 18th- the group which refers to itself as “Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’await wal-Jihad” created their first official twitter account• A channel for their use of propaganda or social media presence in any language• The account was immediately promoted by key pro-IS media operatives • Since then, the group has used the feed to publish a stream of propaganda,

including several new ideas, although there has been some disruption to its media activities following the suspension of the original account by Twitter• The twitter feed has also been posting a stream of short statements about the

group’s activities, claiming operations in a timely manner, in the mould of Islamic State’s one-line tweeted claims

U.S. Involvement in Nigeria

• The U.S. has employed military intervention to stop brutal campaigns before, and recently announced plans to send soldiers and personnel to help Syrian rebels fight the Islamic State group• The U.S. decision to work with a government associated with

corruption and possible war crimes presents a dilemma, however experts say that there are ways to intervene without military presence • White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest answered that the U.S

“remains deeply concerned” by reports of violence in Northern Nigeria and is helping with “counterterrorism assistance” in various ways

U.S. Involvement in Nigeria (continued)• After Boko Haram militants kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from

the town of Chibok last year, activists drew international attention to the incidient with the social-media hastag #BringBackOurGirls• The U.S. provided and used drones to help search for the girls, but did

not provide any direct military intervention• U.S.-Nigeria relations are complicated

Effects of the Boko Haram• Lives lost or critically injured• Schoolgirls being kidnapped and used as suicide bombers

-impacts their life after the crisis-still having nightmares about their kidnappers

• Education in crisis (the government is almost powerless)• Schooling in the worst-affected parts of the country has become almost

impossible(a staggering 10m Nigerian kids are not in school, most of them are girls)• Young women are married off in their teens• Out-of-school boys are often recruited into terrorist ranks, perpetuating a

cycle of poverty and instability• Young girls pregnant and unhealthy at ages as young as 12

Relief“Unicef, a few other international agencies and the state government are providing some help, but relief officials said some of the women were too traumatized to leave their tents to seek help in the clinic.”

Boko Haram in the News

• http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/__NEW/p_30stk_boko_haram_140506.nbcnews-video-reststate-640.JPG• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13809501• http://

www.news24.com.ng/National/News/Military-moves-anti-Boko-Haram-HQ-northeast-to-Maiduguri-20150608• http://

america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/8/rescued-women-describe-boko-haram-captivity.html• http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1449245• http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/world/africa/boko-haram-milit

ants-raped-hundreds-of-female-captives-in-nigeria.html?_r=0

Sources

• http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/boko-haram• http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR308.pdf• http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-nigeria-schoolgirls/over-

100-nigerian-women-children-missing-after-suspected-boko-haram-n270971• http://

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/boko-haram-facts-history_n_5295563.html