Let’s Not Marginalise Boko Haram’s Atrocities

Whilst the world has been focusing its attention on the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Middle East, another militant Islamist group has been causing more damage than we realise further southwest: Boko Haram. Initially non-violent and founded in 2002, the movement, based in northeast Nigeria seeks to establish a caliphate in the country. Its name, generally agreed to mean “Western education is forbidden” shows a clear indication of its opposition to the Westernisation of Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, albeit where 60% of the population of 176 million lives on less than a dollar a day.

They have turned lives upside down, split up families, looted, burned, raped, murdered and kidnapped. The groups’ outbreaks over the last few years through gun attacks, bombings, abductions and assassinations, have inflicted a huge terrorist threat on Western Africa. All of this, in an attempt to overthrow the government and forbid Muslims from taking part in any Western influenced politico-social activities. Attacks aside, Boko Haram’s promotion of Islam includes prohibiting election voting, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving secular education, which derive from Nigeria’s British colonial influences.

The Islamist radical militia’s atrocities have not been highlighted enough in the media. This is due to a combination of the small number of reporters stationed in the area, as well as the Nigerian government’s lack of attention to the pressing issue, until very recently, as we will see. The worst example of this was the attack that took place in Baga around the same time as the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris last month. On January 7^th 2015, our attention was focused on the dramatic chase for the Kouachi killers. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, Boko Haram was ending a three day-long series of mass attacks, killing up to 2000 people (Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan however, has downplayed the death toll to around 150). This heavily destructive act of violence is their deadliest yet.

Let's put these events into perspective. 16 people killed in Paris: mobilisation on social media and news platforms; high tension and insecurity among the public; armed reinforcements deployed across France; millions flood to the streets for unprecedented marches (including controversial political figures); huge wave of unity and solidarity showing messages of support for the victims and resistance against violence, hatred, intolerance and extremism. 2000 people killed in northern Nigeria: a mere notification from the BBC on our iPhones, which we then put back to sleep. It only takes this comparison of worldwide reactions to both attacks to realise that there is something very wrong with the way media coverage can so easily dictate our interests and in the process, dehumanise certain people. This needs to change. So let’s recapitulate the impact and unfolding of events since the group’s first attacks, and how they have been dealt with nationally and internationally.

Following the death of Boko Haram’s founding cleric, Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, the leading role was quickly taken over by the second-in-command, Abubakar Shekau, who drastically upped the group’s violence. Severe attacks on civilians, politicians, religious leaders, military, police and the UN headquarters in Abuja occurred throughout 2010 and 2011. Furthermore, in 2012, they carried out their deadliest attack of the time, taking the lives of 190 people; a figure, which as we now know was atrociously exceeded in the Baga attacks.

In April 2014, the terrorist group kidnapped 276 girls from the town of Chibok in the northeast state of Borno, 57 of which were able to escape. This provoked a huge twitter-led and celebrity studded international response urging for the girls’ release using #BringBackOurGirls. However when looking back at the timeline of events, we realise that the hashtag only went viral two weeks after the abductions. Two weeks. Within days, the novelty wore off. A new hashtag took precedence. Nothing has been heard of the girls since.

A glimpse of hope?

Following the African Union’s summit a few weeks ago, possible solutions were drafted with regards to dealing with the Boko Haram threat. Among these was the decision to deploy 7500 troops from neighbouring Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the fight against the extremists. This initiative is already a big step forward considering Goodluck Jonathan’s usually staunch reluctance to allow any form of exterior intervention to assist his troops against Boko Haram. However, comments have been made suggesting that countries such as Chad and Cameroon are acting out of their own national interest rather than as a form of benevolent aid, in order to push Boko Haram back in Nigeria and avoid the spread of terror into their own countries. If this really was the idea however, it has been short-lived. On February 13^th 2015, fighters of Boko Haram made their first lethal attack in Chad, killing villagers, setting houses alight and attacking a police station. Again, why hasn’t this received more attention from the media? Because the news is too far from home. As we have seen, this is the unfortunately wrong trend when news is not “sexy” enough to attract plentiful attention, however tragic it may be.

Just because Boko Haram isn’t considered as much of a threat to the West as ISIS, does not mean the huge suffering it has caused should be ignored. There are still over 200 schoolgirls out there somewhere. The fact that they are missing does not mean that we should move on and forget about them. Had this happened in Europe, we can be sure that the abuse of violence and human rights would have made the headlines every day until the girls were found, dead or alive.

All in all, the Boko Haram threat is still around and it is growing. According to analysts, this threat will not disappear until the Nigerian government takes more action to reduce the region’s poverty and focuses policies on building an education system, which could potentially gain the support of local Muslims. This reasoning is conceivable, but such changes do not seem very likely in the near future with the current government in power. The Western media however, could make space amongst its sometimes less important headlines to give more attention to the situation in Nigeria. Perhaps this would mobilise more reaction and thus action, in order to give more protection to those who are threatened by the group.