What About Boko Haram

For John, BLUF:  If Boko Haram takes Nigeria and Cameroon, it will try to spread to Europe.  That would not be fun.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

At the web magazine War on the Rocks♠ we have the views of Alice Hunt Friend♥ on "Besting Boko Haram.  The impact of Boko Haram♦ has been horrendous.  While we all reacted to the April 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria, it has been little in the news recently, even though some 2,000 people were killed by Boko Haram in 2014 and over a half million people have been dislocated.  Here is the lede:

Will anything stop Boko Haram?  As Western media became consumed with the wave of terrorism in Paris, the Nigerian terrorist group slaughtered hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in the northeastern city of Baga.  On the heels of this atrocity, Boko Haram’s deadliest yet, the group executed another ruthless attack:  forcing little girls to detonate suicide vests in a crowded market.

Ms Hunt does have a discussion of the underlying social issues.  She also proposes steps ahead.  In a nation like Nigeria, split between a Muslim North and a Christian South, the social and political side needs to be considered.  I am not sure that Nigeria can simply kill its way to victory.

We need to be paying attention to this issue.

UPDATE:  I meant to hit "Save", but hit "Publish".  Painting the train while it is moving.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I am more of a War, Neat kind of person.
♥  Alice Hunt Friend is a Senior Affiliate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Center for a New American Security, and a doctoral student at American University in Washington, DC.  From 2012-2014 she was the Principal Director for African Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
♦  Which means "Western education is forbidden".  The official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad, which translates to "People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad"