Wednesday, February 26, 2014

000012 - Boko Haram, West African Jihadist Organization

Boko Haram
The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad (Arabic: جماعة اهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد‎ Jamāʻat Ahl as-Sunnah lid-daʻwa wal-Jihād)—better known by its Hausa name Boko Haram, "Western education is sinful") —is an Islamic jihadist and takfiri militant and terrorist organization based in the northeast of Nigeria, north Cameroon and Niger.  Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002, the organization seeks to establish a "pure" Islamic state ruled by sharia law, putting a stop to what it deems "Westernization." The group is known for attacking Christians and government targets, bombing churches, attacking schools and police stations, kidnapping western tourists, but has also assassinated members of the Islamic establishment. Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2001 and 2013.

Boko Haram, which refers to itself as “Jama‘atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da‘awati wal-Jihad” (JASDJ; Group of the Sunni People for the Calling and Jihad) and as the “Nigerian Taliban", is a Nigeria-based group that seeks to overthrow the current Nigerian Government and replace it with a regime based on Islamic law. It is popularly known in Nigerian and Western media as “Boko Haram,” which means “Western education is forbidden” (the word boko is a holdover from the colonial English word for book).

The group exerts influence in the northeastern The group exerts influence in the northeastern Nigerian states of Borno, Adamawa, Kadun, Bauchi, Yobe and Kano.  In this region, a state of emergency was declared. The group did not have a clear structure or evident chain of command and was called "diffuse" with a "cell-like structure" facilitating factions and splits. The Boko Haram was reportedly divided into three factions with a splinter group known as Ansaru. The group's main leader is Abubakar Shekau. Its weapons expert, second-in-command and arms manufacturer was Momodu Bama.

Whether it had links to jihadist groups outside Nigeria was disputed. Boko Haram was likely linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), but others found no evidence of material international support, and attacks by the group on international targets were limited. On November 13, 2013 the United States government designated Boko Haram as a terrorist organization.

Many of the group's senior radicals were reportedly partially inspired by the late Islamic preacher known as Maitatsine. Others believe the group is motivated by inter-ethnic disputes as much as religion, and that its founder Yusuf believed there was a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” by Plateau State governor Jonah Jang against the Hausa and Fulani people. Amnesty International accused the Nigerian government of human rights abuses after 950 suspected Boko Haram militants died in detention facilities run by Nigeria's military Joint Task Force in the first half of 2013. The conflicts left around 90,000 people displaced. Human Rights Watch claimed that Boko Haram used child soldiers, including 12 year olds.

The group adopted its official name to be "the Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad", which is the English translation from Arabic Jamā'at ahl as-sunnah li-d-da'wa wa-l-jihād (جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد).

In the town of Maiduguri, where the group was formed, the residents dubbed it Boko Haram. The term "Boko Haram" comes from the Hausa word boko figuratively meaning "western education" (literally "alphabet", from English "book") and the Arabic word haram figuratively meaning "sin" (literally, "forbidden").  The name, loosely translated from Hausa, means "western education is forbidden". The group earned this name by its strong opposition to anything Western, which it sees as corrupting Muslims. However, this interpretation of the name is disputed, and locals who speak the Hausa language are unsure what it means.

It may be best to consider that the name of the movement should not be understood literally from the Hausa, but rather as meaning "traversing the Western system of education is haram".

Boko Haram was founded as an indigenous group, turning itself into a Jihadist group in 2009. It proposed that interaction with the Western world is forbidden, and also supported opposition to the Muslim establishment and the government of Nigeria.

The members of the group do not interact with the local Muslim population and have carried out assassinations in the past of anyone who criticized it, including Muslim clerics.

In the wake of the 2009 crackdown on its members and its subsequent re-emergence, the growing frequency and geographical range of attacks attributed to Boko Haram have led some political and religious leaders in the north to the conclusion that the group has now expanded beyond its original religious composition to include not only Islamic militants, but criminal elements and disgruntled politicians as well. 

The core principles of the group are: an emphasis on 'Hakimiyyah' [sovereignty to God's law]; a belief that they (the Boko Haram) are the "Saved Sect" mentioned in the Prophetic Tradition of Islam; prohibiting studying in Western educational centers of learning as they consider them to be based on non-Islamic traditions and colonialism; prohibiting working in any governmental institution or civil service role; a contorted interpretation of the edicts of scholars from the classical tradition such as Ibn Taymiyyah to support their rebellions and use of violence; post-2009 a close relationship with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and further incorporation into the global Jihadi and Takfiri worldview. Boko Haram was thus widely rejected and repudiated by adherents of the Salafi tradition in Nigeria.

Before colonization and subsequent annexation into the British Empire, the Bornu Empire ruled the territory where Boko Haram is currently active. It was a sovereign sultanate run according to the principles of the Constitution of Medina, with a majority Kanuri Muslim population. The Bornu Sultanate emerged after the overthrow of the Kanem-Bornu Empire ruled by the Sayfawa dynasty for over 2000 years. The Bornu Sultanate of the Kanuri is distinct from the Sokoto Caliphate of the Hausa/Fulani established in 1802 by the military conquest of Usman dan Fodio. Both the Bornu Sultanate and Sokoto Caliphate came under control of the British in 1903. During this period, Christian missionaries used western education as a tool for evangelism, this led to secular education being viewed with suspicion by many in the local population.  Increased dissatisfaction gave rise to many fundamentalists among the Kanuri and other peoples of northeast Nigeria.
One of the most famous such fundamentalists was Mohammed Marwa, also known as Maitatsine, who was at the height of his notoriety during the 1970s and 1980s.  Marwa refused to believe Muhammad was the Prophet and instigated riots in the country which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. Some analysts view Boko Haram as an extension of the Maitatsine riots.

He was sent into exile by the Nigerian authorities.


In 1995, the group was said to be operating under the name Shabaab, Muslim Youth Organisation with Mallam Lawal as the leader. When Lawal left to continue his education, Mohammed Yusuf took over leadership of the group. Yusuf’s leadership allegedly opened the group to political influence and popularity.

Yusuf officially founded the group in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri with the aim of establishing a sharia government in Borno State under then Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.  He established a religious complex that included a mosque and a school where many poor families from across Nigeria and from neighbouring countries enrolled their children.

The center had ulterior political goals and soon it was also working as a recruiting ground for future jihadis to fight the state. The group included members who came from neighboring Chad and Niger and speak only Arabic.

In 2004, the complex was relocated to Yusuf's home state of Yobe in the village Kanamma near the Niger border.

Yusuf successfully attracted followers from unemployed youth by speaking out against police and political corruption.  It should be noted that violent uprisings in Nigeria at that time were ultimately due to the fallout of frustration with corruption and the attendant social malaise of poverty and unemployment.  Religious dimensions of the conflict were misconstrued as the primary driver of violence when, in fact, disenfranchisement and inequality were the root causes. It was noticeably significant that Nigeria has laws giving regional political leaders the power to qualify people as 'indigenes' (original inhabitants) or not. This designation determines whether citizens can participate in politics, own land, obtain a job, or attend school. The system was abused widely to ensure political support and to exclude others. Muslims have been denied indigene-ship certificates disproportionately often. From some perspectives, what may have very well been a group engaged in class warfare began to be portrayed in government propaganda as terrorists in order to win counter-terrorism assistance from the West.

Boko Haram suffered setbacks in July 2009 when clashes with Nigerian Government forces led to the deaths of hundreds of its members, including former leader Muhammad Yusuf.
In July 2010, Boko Haram’s former second-in-command, Abubakar Shekau, appeared in a video claiming leadership of the group and threatening attacks on Western influences in Nigeria. Later that month, Shekau issued a second statement expressing solidarity with al-Qa‘ida and threatening the United States. Under Shekau’s leadership, the group continued to demonstrate growing operational capabilities, with an increasing use of improvised explosive device (IED) attacks against soft targets. The group set off its first vehicle-borne IED in June 2011. On August 26, 2011, Boko Haram conducted its first attack against a Western interest—a vehicle-bomb attack on United Nation headquarters in Abuja—killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 80. A purported Boko Haram spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack and promised future targeting of United States and Nigerian Government interests.
Since late 2011, the group has conducted multiple attacks per week against a wide range of targets, including Christians, Nigerian security and police forces, the media, schools, and politicians. Since late 2012, Boko Haram and its splinter group Ansaru have claimed responsibility for three kidnappings of Westerners, raising their international profile and emphasizing the growing threat they pose to Western and regional interests. As of July 2013 Ansaru was holding a French hostage. Also in 2013, Boko Haram expanded its activity in neighboring countries and continues to clash with Nigerian military forces trying to oust it from northeastern Nigeria.