African Union to discuss collective force
Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group centred in Nigeria, has wreaked havoc throughout the country, as well as bordering nations, with assassinations, mass killings, abductions, and bombings. The group has now turned its focus to overthrowing the Nigerian government and creating an Islamic state.
Boko Haram, founded in 2002, adheres to a vision of Islam that denounces Muslim participation in Western political and social activities as forbidden, or “haram.” Such activities include secular education practices, democratic voting systems, and making modern Westernized clothing choices.
Though commonly known as Boko Haram, which translates loosely to “Western education is forbidden,” the group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, translating to “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.”
Fighters for Boko Haram have launched mass attacks on villages, and have been known to kill, loot, and burn entire rural areas that refuse to collaborate with their extremist forces.
In April of 2014, the terrorist group made headlines when Boko Haram forces abducted over 200 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, threatening to treat them as slaves and marry them off.
More recently, the terrorist group has been credited with thousands of deaths in the bushes of Nigeria. Boko Haram has also shifted their sights to Cameroon, where the extremist forces recently kidnapped dozens of people in raids on the Nigerian neighbour.
In light of the recent escalation of conflicts, several are looking to the African Union to cooperate on collective action.
Ghana’s President, John Mahama, has announced plans for several African leaders to discuss more permanent solutions for the Boko Haram militants.
“We have to make this terror end,” said President Mahama. “We must find a way to act together to share information, to synchronize our strategies, to pool our resources in order to rid the entire African continent of terrorism.”
As the chaos of Boko Haram spreads through to surrounding countries, the militant group is no longer viewed as solely Nigeria’s problem, with Niger, Chad, and Cameroon promising to join forces with Nigeria in a multi-national force agains Boko Haram.
Cameroon recently announced that Chad is set to send a large military contingent to help fight the terrorist organization. The announcement came three days after the country’s army forces killed over 140 Boko Haram militants, who had attacked one of its army bases in the first major effort against Cameroon since the terrorist group threatened the country’s leader in an online video.
President Mahama, along with other African leaders, supports this collective action, noting that the crisis created by the terrorist group has escalated to the point where “a regional or a multinational force” would be important.
“We cannot stand by silently,” concluded President Mahama, “idly waiting for the international community to intervene on our behalf.”