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Boko Haram
Boko Haram is an Islamic extremist group in northern Nigeria and has
spread to many parts of western Africa. The name Boko Haram itself means
western education is forbidden showing their strong hatred of the west. Not
many people know that the real name of Boko Haram is Jama'atu Ahl asSunnah li-Da'awati wal-Jihad which roughly means People Committed to the
Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad. The group is fairly new
being just founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf in Nigeria. Boko Haram is a
Sunni jihadist group and has relations with other Islamic extremist groups
such as al-Qaida and as more recently ISIS. The voiced support by ISIS has
increased their reign of terror in northern Nigeria and other parts of Africa. At
first Boko Haram goal was to stop western education in the country. In 2002
Yusuf stablished a religious complex that included a mosque and a Muslim
school in Maiduguri the capital of Borno a state in northern Nigeria. Poor
Muslim families from around all of Nigeria tried to enroll their children in the
school. This complex became the headquarters for Boko Haram it also
became a breeding ground for Yusuf radical ideas of having an Islamic state.
The school prevented girls from attending since it is against Islamic belief for
a women to attend school. The goal of providing education about Islam
changed shortly after. In 2009 the groups main goal became the removal of
the government in Nigeria or at least in northern Nigeria where it is mostly
Muslim and establish a country that follows Islamic law. The radical change
happened because of the death of Mohammed Yusuf and the second in

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command Abubakar Shekau taking control of the group. He brought more

radical ideas to Boko Haram causing the amount of killings to increase. At
the time the country also had a Muslim president but they saw him as a fake
Muslim. The terrorist group makes its money through extortions, abductions,
robberies, donations, and through funding from other terrorist organizations
such as al-Shabaab. The money allows the group to continue funding their
campaign against the Nigerian government.
North eastern Nigeria has severely been impacted by Boko Haram. The
president of Nigeria in 2013 declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe,
and Adamawa all states in the north east of the country due to fighting with
Boko Haram. The area constantly suffers from conflicts between Boko Haram
and the government but the terrorist group mostly focus on attacking private
citizens. This is in part due to the fact that they use car bombs and suicide
bombers which target areas that have a large number of people such as
markets and bus stops. One of these attacks occurred in Maiduguri the city
where the group was founded. A car bomb was placed near a market and set
to go off during one of the busiest time, the bomb killed at least fifty-six
people. They have also targeted schools which have been a major part of
their attack. They believe that they spread western education and that they
should be stopped. One major occurrence regarding schools was the
kidnapping of more than two hundred girls from a school in Chibok a city in
Borno. Most of the girls have not been recovered but around fifty girls
managed to escape. Boko Haram shortly after the kidnapping of the girls

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took responsibility for it and their leader Shekau threaten to sell the girls off
into slavery. They have also set fire to many schools throughout northern
Nigeria. Boko Haram have also not only targeted schools but also churches in
Nigeria. On December 25 while Christmas mass was going on Boko Haram
detonated a bomb near St. Teresa in Madalla. The bomb killed thirty-seven
people and wounded fifty-seven. This attack on a catholic church shows Boko
Haram are not tolerant to other religions such as Christianity. One of the
most major attacks Boko Haram have preform was on September 17, 2013.
They set up fake check points in Borno dressed as military personnel
specifically targeting civilians, About 142 people were killed by the gunmen.
A very important statistic that illustrates Boko Haram brutality is that they
are responsible for 2.34 percent of worldwide terrorist attacks during 20092013. They performed 801 attacks killing more than 3666 people. This made
them the third deadliest group between 2009 and 2013 above Al-Qaida and
ISIL.
The first major step in combatting Boko Haram was when they were
declared a terrorist group by the US in 2013. This prompted more awareness
about the group and the danger they present in and around western Africa.
The US has not been directly involved in the fighting against Boko Haram but
they have just voiced their support to the Nigerian government. At first the
Nigerian government had lost large part of territory in the northeast until
their previous president Goodluck Jonathan managed to establish a coalition
of neighboring countries including Cameroon, Niger, and Chad against Boko

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Haram. This coalition proved to be effective and severely crippled the

organization and as of March 2015 Boko Haram have lost the major towns
they controlled and they were pushed back into the Sambisa forest. Just as
well the newly elected president of Nigeria has claimed his support for the
war against Boko Haram and states he will continue the fight. After his
inauguration on May 29, 2015, Boko Haram have performed another attack
in northern Nigeria killing at least fifty people proving his presidency will not
be easy and his leadership will be tested. The issue regarding Boko Haram is
the poverty in the northeast of Nigeria and as long as the area suffers from
severe poverty people will be vulnerable to false promises from radical
religious groups or any group that shows a better future for them, meaning
the war will continue for many years to come.
Bibliography:
Chothia, Farouk. "Who Are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists?" BBC News. N.p.,
4 May 2015. Web. 05 June 2015.
Perry, Alex. The Hunt for Boko Haram. N.p.: Newsweek Insights, 2014. Print.
Simonelli, Corina, et al. "Boko Haram Recent Attacks." START. U of Maryland,
May
2014. Web. 5 June 2015. <https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/
STARTBackgroundReport_BokoHaramRecentAttacks_May2014_0.pdf>.

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Walker, Andrew. "What Is Boko Haram?" USIP. N.p., June 2012. Web. 5 June
2015.
<http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR308.pdf>.