tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/chibok-schoolgirls-13017/articlesChibok schoolgirls – The Conversation2022-10-17T14:56:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1922712022-10-17T14:56:01Z2022-10-17T14:56:01ZChibok kidnappings: why it’s important to listen to the survivors of Boko Haram terrorism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489865/original/file-20221015-39131-z1vhte.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A UK mural employs the trending hashtag #BringBackOurGirls
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Green/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2009 a once quiet local <a href="https://www.oasiscenter.eu/en/what-is-salafism-quest-for-purity">Salafi</a> group called <a href="https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/boko_haram.html">Boko Haram</a> became increasingly violent in north-east Nigeria and border communities of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Its quest to forbid western education in the heavily Islamic region has led to the kidnapping of many school children, the slaughter of an <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/23/boko-haram-nigeria-kidnappings-school-children/">estimated</a> 2,200 teachers and the burning down of 1,400 schools. But the terrorist group was largely unknown on the world stage until the <a href="https://businessday.ng/news/article/from-dorm-to-doom-a-timeline-of-the-chibok-kidnapping-till-date/">kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from the Nigerian town of Chibok</a> in April 2014. </p>
<p>The hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BringBackOurGirls&src=typed_query">#BringBackOurGirls</a>, used in the international calls for the girls to be rescued, garnered over <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-27392955">3.3 million tweets</a> in less than a month. It became Twitter’s most used hashtag at the time, reaching <a href="http://christinalamb.net/articles/a-fight-for-the-soul-of-the-world/">6.1 million tweets</a> in 2016. It inspired protests around the world demanding the immediate release of the girls.</p>
<p>Some of these girls are still in captivity today; others have been rescued or have escaped. But some of the rescued girls returned to their abductors. It was a sign that there was more to know about Boko Haram terrorism.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/article/view/2741/2547">recent study</a>, I argue that the global popularity of the Chibok girls case is due to the hard work of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Its framing of the case, however, failed to offer a nuanced picture of realities in Nigeria. </p>
<p>The violence of Boko Haram in the north-east is much more complex than the gendered divisions (female victims versus male perpetrators) that emerged. I turned to the testimonial stories that emerged after the kidnapping to offer more insights.</p>
<h2>Creative responses</h2>
<p>Writers, journalists and artists responded strongly to the <a href="https://bringbackourgirls.ng">#BringBackOurGirls</a> campaign. </p>
<p>The kidnapping has been taken up in novels (<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/buried-beneath-the-baobab-tree-adaobi-tricia-nwaubaniviviana-mazza">Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree</a>), films (Nollywood’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8308900/">Boko Haram</a> and a scene in Hollywood’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a>), documentaries (<a href="https://www.hbo.com/movies/stolen-daughters-boko-haram">Stolen Daughters</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10874892/">Daughters of Chibok</a>), poems (<a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/entertainment/artsbooks/210511-pained-remembrance-prayers-vigilance-book-chibok.html">The Book of Chibok</a>), literary memoirs (<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/557492/a-gift-from-darkness-by-andrea-claudia-hoffmann/">A Gift From Darkness</a>), literary reportage (<a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/chibok-girls-helon-habila/">The Chibok Girls</a> and <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/beneaththetamarindtree">Beneath the Tamarind Tree</a>), <a href="https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/11364115.nigerian-artist-marks-100-days-since-schoolgirls-kidnapping/">visual art</a> and <a href="https://time.com/4291651/chibok-girls-missing-song/">songs</a> – to mention just a few.</p>
<p>I consider these creative works as testimonial narratives, as they are based on survivors’ testimonies. In my analysis, these representations must be read as part of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. </p>
<h2>Testimonial narratives</h2>
<p>Reading these texts, I began to notice a story much more complex than what is available in public media and even academic scholarship. For one thing, the Chibok case is neither exemplary nor singular. By focusing exclusively on this case, the movement missed an opportunity to articulate a more nuanced and complex response to Boko Haram.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-spiralling-insecurity-five-essential-reads-186696">Nigeria’s spiralling insecurity: five essential reads</a>
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<p>This is why one of the movement’s foremost writers, Nigerian novelist and journalist <a href="https://www.adaobitricia.com/about.html">Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani</a>, <a href="https://www.postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/article/viewFile/2741/2547">claims</a> that the excessive focus on the Chibok girls, to the detriment of other stories from children, men and women, was “a mistake”. As she argues, it is only through a robust engagement with the tragedy of terrorism in northern Nigeria that we can learn how best to confront it meaningfully.</p>
<h2>Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover in green and black with an illustration of a tree against a full moon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489866/original/file-20221015-896-766vnj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HarperCollins Publishers</span></span>
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<p>Nwaubani strives to achieve this complexity in her acclaimed novel, Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree. The text is a literary testimonial narrated through the perspective of an unnamed teenage girl survivor, affectionately called Yaa Taa by her parents. Nwaubani affirms and also moves beyond the Chibok case by making Yaa Taa representative of all women and girls kidnapped by Boko Haram – not just the Chibok girls.</p>
<p>The novel also undoes the easy gender binary constructed by the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners. Boko Haram has also murdered boys and men while kidnapping girls and women. When Boko Haram invades her village and almost annihilates all men and boys, Yaa Taa mourns:</p>
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<p>I thank God that I am a girl … it was the boys and men that got called to one side of the building when the Boko Haram men gathered all the villagers … It was the boys who were lying in shallow puddles of red, while the girls and women and toddlers were marched into trucks.</p>
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<p>Italian journalist Viviana Mazza’s afterword in Nwaubani’s novel supports Yaa Taa’s experience. It mirrors what she heard from other witnesses she interviewed. </p>
<p>The women also allude to the trauma of witnessing such gruesome murders and the challenge of survival in the absence of their fathers, husbands, brothers, teachers and community leaders in their patriarchal society. Yet this has been scarcely acknowledged. #BringBackOurGirls shows a need for a better understanding of the delicate situation in these communities.</p>
<h2>Multiple experiences</h2>
<p>We find similar testimonies in other narratives published in the aftermath of the Chibok girls’ kidnapping. For example, <a href="https://otherpress.com/product/a-gift-from-darkness-9781590518496/">A Gift from Darkness</a>: How I Escaped with My Daughter from Boko Haram is a memoir written by a German journalist, Andrea Hoffmann. She interviews a survivor, Patience Ibrahim, whose husband was murdered by Boko Haram. None of the male members of her family survived and she was left without any family support. </p>
<p>Even a Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-kidnapped-boys-of-boko-haram-1471013062">article</a> showing that Boko Haram had kidnapped over 10,000 boys by 2016 was largely ignored in the face of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. </p>
<p>What this shows is that witness accounts and testimonial narratives have the potential to offer deeper insights into historical events. But we need to listen carefully to the stories of survivors who may not be telling us exactly what we want to hear. </p>
<p>Testimonial narratives have also enabled other stories, experiences and voices to emerge. The violence inflicted by Boko Haram terrorism cuts beyond the Chibok case and crosses gender lines. </p>
<p>Without understanding the nuances of this violence, we cannot begin to solve it. Nor can we understand why some of those who have been rescued are returning to their captors. Only they will be able to tell us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chijioke K Onah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>BringBackOurGirls led to a global outcry, but it simplified a complex history that is best understood through survivor accounts.Chijioke K Onah, PhD Candidate, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1063022019-03-07T11:38:02Z2019-03-07T11:38:02ZOnce captives of Boko Haram, these students are finding new meaning in their lives in Pennsylvania<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262467/original/file-20190306-100778-1x2z1ic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chibok schoolgirls freed from Boko Haram captivity shown in Abuja, Nigeria in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Nigeria-Chibok-Girl/3ddb77fb72f14083ba21fc26392afee8/8/0">Olamikan Gbemiga/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Of all the challenges faced by people who’ve been displaced, perhaps none is more important than to find new meaning in their lives. And so it is with the four young women who are students in a college prep class that I teach at Dickinson College.</p>
<p>All four students were among the more than 200 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/11/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-girls.html">Chibok schoolgirls</a> who were <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/17/world/africa/nigeria-abducted-girls/">abducted by Boko Haram</a> in April 2014. The kidnapping triggered international outrage and prompted the worldwide <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/hashtag-wars-whos-behind-nigeria-bringbackourgirls-movement-n100771">#BringBackOurGirls</a> campaign.</p>
<p>As we approach the five-year anniversary of the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls – many of whom are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/world/africa/nigeria-election-corruption.html">still being held captive</a> – it is worth taking a look at what the world has done to help those who have survived the ordeal. The Nigerian government has secured the release of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-chibok-girls-survivors-of-kidnapping-by-boko-haram-share-their-stories-60-minutes/">less than half </a>of the kidnapped schoolgirls, with at least 100 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/world/africa/nigeria-election-corruption.html">still being held captive</a>.</p>
<p>The class I teach at Dickinson offers a small glimpse into the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls’ lives. It is an outcome that their captors in Boko Haram – a terrorist group whose name means “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27390954">Western education is forbidden</a>” – never wanted to imagine.</p>
<p>Over the past year or so, the four students I teach have worked hard to achieve their dream of obtaining a high school equivalency diploma so they can have a shot at college. They have attempted the GED practice test and real tests quite a few times. </p>
<p>Assessors said it would take about five to seven years to get them ready for college. However, something took place in February that leads me to believe it won’t take that long. But before I tell that story, a little background is in order.</p>
<h2>Escaping captivity</h2>
<p>While the Chibok school kidnapping is widely associated with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, fortunately, my students never had to be “brought back.” That’s because they were among the lucky ones who <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-american-ordeal-of-the-boko-haram-schoolgirls-1523661238">escaped</a> from the insurgent group as they were being taken to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/29/nigeria-sambisa-forest-boko-haram-hideout-kidnapped-school-girls-believed-to-be-held">Sambisa Forest</a> in Nigeria.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262254/original/file-20190305-48450-14vqkxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">#BringBackOurGirls campaigners protest in Lagos, Nigeria in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Nigeria-Kidnapped-Girls/691d46e19e9c4ca6a3bcd9a115751440/14/0">Sunday Alamba/AP</a></span>
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<p>How the four young women came to be my students at a small, <a href="https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20048/history_of_the_college/1404/the_dickinson_story">historic</a>, private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania is a long and complicated story. Not all of it has been pleasant. The Wall Street Journal told much of their <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-american-ordeal-of-the-boko-haram-schoolgirls-1523661238">rough ordeal in the United States</a> in 2018.</p>
<p>That same year, Dickinson College president Margee Ensign was asked and agreed to <a href="https://www.philly.com/philly/education/dickinson-college-president-nigerian-captives-boko-haram-margee-ensign-20180518.html">welcome the young women to our campus</a>. She had <a href="https://www.philly.com/philly/education/dickinson-college-president-nigerian-captives-boko-haram-margee-ensign-20180518.html">done the same</a> a few years earlier with some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls when she was head of the American University of Nigeria, where I also used to teach.</p>
<p>The students are all on full scholarship funded by the Nigerian government’s <a href="http://victimssupportfundng.org/">Victim Support Fund</a> and the <a href="http://mmfnigeria.org/">Murtala Mohammed Foundation</a>.</p>
<h2>Journey to the United States</h2>
<p>I came to Dickinson College in the fall of 2017 as a visiting professor in international studies. I first met the four former Chibok schoolgirls in April 2018, when Dickinson launched the <a href="https://www.dickinson.edu/bridge">College Bridge program</a> in which they are now enrolled. </p>
<p>Through the program, the young women take a college prep class with me that focuses on critical and analytical thinking skills. They also take math, English, science, social studies and GED preparatory classes.</p>
<h2>A global mission, challenging work</h2>
<p>In many ways, the bridge program at Dickinson is in line with UNESCO’s new <a href="https://en.unesco.org/themes/right-to-education/campaign">#RightToEducation</a> campaign that is meant to expand access to higher education for refugees. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, among the world’s 16.1 million refugees, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/57d9d01d0">only 1 percent of college-aged refugees</a> attend university, compared to 34 percent of all college-aged youth globally. </p>
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<span class="caption">Released abduction victims, schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi, shown after a meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, at the presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Nigeria-YE-Africa-2018/3bdbd1a4d3424c0ead8206d03028b5c6/6/0">Azeez Akunleyan/AP</a></span>
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<p>The work of preparing students with refugee backgrounds for college is far from easy. Aside from adjusting to a new culture and environment, sometimes a new language and a different method of learning, displaced persons struggle to find new meanings in their displacement. When education becomes their main pursuit, it must necessarily provide those new meanings. </p>
<h2>A breakthrough</h2>
<p>For a student named <a href="https://www.philly.com/philly/education/dickinson-college-president-nigerian-captives-boko-haram-margee-ensign-20180518.html">Patience</a>, new meaning has been found in her quest to become a schoolteacher or counselor. Patience has taken a significant step toward that goal. It came to light when she showed up over an hour late to my class one day in February.</p>
<p>“What happened today?” I asked when she walked in, trying to keep my voice and expression from revealing my disappointment.</p>
<p>“I went to take my GED Math this morning. I told you,” she said.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how I forgot that she was going to take the GED Math, but I did. Had I remembered, I would have sent her one of my motivational texts to get her inspired. This was her third attempt on the GED.</p>
<p>“How did it go?” I asked.</p>
<p>“It went well,” she answered, her voice flat, face emotionless.</p>
<p>“So …” I stammered, “did you pass?” </p>
<p>“Yes, I did,” she said, and then told me her score. The whole class erupted in cheers and claps. I was so excited, I rushed and hugged her without thinking. The other students joined. It was one of the most rewarding moments in my decade of teaching. A few weeks later, Patience passed her GED Science exam as well.</p>
<h2>Inspiring others</h2>
<p>Patience is the first among the four women to pass a GED test. In order to appreciate what a big deal this is, consider where these young women have come from.</p>
<p>Beyond having had a tumultuous life, the students come from an unimaginably poor educational background. The Government Girls Secondary School they attended in Chibok, Borno state, is in a very remote part of Nigeria. You normally wouldn’t have good teachers in such remote areas. But with the Boko Haram insurgency that has plagued the region for the past decade, the situation is far worse. The insurgency has prompted most of the good teachers to leave. According to Human Rights Watch, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/nigeria0416web.pdf">at least 611 teachers have been deliberately killed</a> by the insurgents since 2009, forcing a further 19,000 teachers to flee. The students have told me that their school at Chibok did not have qualified science, math or language teachers. Their science labs had no equipment. </p>
<p>The Borno state Ministry of Education and many other states in northern Nigeria generally do not prioritize education for girls due to religion and culture, which both support early marriage. In Borno state, the attendance rate for female secondary school students is <a href="https://www.epdc.org/epdc-data-points/schooling-northern-nigeria-challenges-girls-education">29 percent</a>, compared with a national average of 53 percent. So this is a huge achievement for Patience and the other women in their journey toward college. When they eventually get into college, I believe it will inspire thousands of other young girls from that region of the world.</p>
<p>For her part, Patience hopes to inspire girls worldwide.</p>
<p>I know this because in early 2019, I worked with Patience and her fellow students on listening and comprehension skills. For one exercise, I had them watch and then write their opinion about <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/mary_maker_why_educating_refugees_matters?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tedspre">this inspiring talk</a> by Mary Maker, a former South Sudanese refugee who is now a teacher at a school in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, on the power of education for women from crises societies.</p>
<p>Patience and the others could relate very easily with the speech and with the speaker. It spoke to their past and their present, their hopes and aspirations. The proof is that in her essay about the video, Patience wrote that she wants to have a voice like Mary Maker’s – and to speak for women who cannot speak for themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Four young women who escaped Boko Haram during the 2014 Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping are now studying in the US. Their professor recounts a recent breakthrough in their quest to go to college.Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob, Visiting International Scholar in International Studies & Political Science, Dickinson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/938512018-03-27T04:58:37Z2018-03-27T04:58:37ZWhy schools become battlegrounds during conflict<p>Last week, more than 100 girls who had been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/boko-haram-returns-some-of-the-girls-it-kidnapped-last-month">abducted by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram</a> from a Nigerian school in Dapchi in February were released to their families. But the community was also threatened that if the group returned and found any girls in school, they would be abducted again – and not returned.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Syria, <a href="http://undocs.org/S/2014/295">conservative estimates</a> are that at least 4,072 schools have been forced to close, used as shelters, or destroyed due to the conflict. And there have been at least 1,292 <a href="http://www.savesyrianschools.org/context.php">attacks on schools</a> in the Hama, Daraa, Homs, and Idlib provinces. </p>
<p>While a coalition of NGOs were presenting the findings of their #SaveSyrianSchools project in a public hearing in Geneva last week, another school was <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/syria-strike-kills-15-children-at-school">bombed in Syria</a>, killing at least 15 children.</p>
<p>These examples reflect broader trends of targeting education across conflict-affected parts of the world. It is estimated that <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Education_Uprooted_DIGITAL.pdf">one in four school-aged children</a> in conflict-affected nations are not in school. This is a total of around 27 million children. And girls are 2.5 times more likely to be denied an education. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aleppos-dying-children-and-shattered-health-system-is-there-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-63995">Aleppo's dying children and shattered health system: is there light at the end of the tunnel?</a>
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<h2>Why use schools as battlegrounds</h2>
<p>There are many reasons why schools and students, despite being protected by <a href="https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/children">international law</a>, are targeted during times of armed conflict and unrest. Students collected together in a school, or isolated travelling to and from school, are prime targets for abduction by armed groups. </p>
<p>Children are often taken to be recruited as <a href="http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/">child soldiers, or used as human shields or human bombs</a>. Schools are soft targets, and the targeting of children is very effective in campaigns of terror, having a <a href="https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2011/hidden-crisis-armed-conflict-and-education">destabilising effect on communities</a>.</p>
<p>Schools and universities are also <a href="http://www.protectingeducation.org/restricting-military-use-and-occupation">ideal locations for military headquarters</a> and facilities, and can become central to war efforts. This makes them key military targets for opposing sides.</p>
<p>Schools can be seen by armed groups to represent state authority, and are therefore key targets in campaigns against the government. This is especially true when the groups disagree with the form of education being provided. This reality is perhaps best illustrated by <a href="https://undocs.org/en/S/2017/304">Boko Haram</a>, which in 2015 committed to the cause of Islamic State and renamed itself the Islamic State of West Africa. </p>
<p>Despite the change, the group remains best known as “Boko Haram”, which in the local Hausa dialect roughly translates as “Western education is forbidden”. Targeting schools and abducting children is <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/04/11/they-set-classrooms-fire/attacks-education-northeast-nigeria">a core strategy of the group</a>, whose extremist beliefs oppose such education as sinful, and particularly object to the education of girls.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/countering-boko-haram-can-a-regional-approach-help-nigeria-36910">Countering Boko Haram: can a regional approach help Nigeria?</a>
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<p>Boko Haram’s <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32299943">infamous 2014 abduction of 276 girls in Chibok</a> sparked the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign. According to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/tag/boko-haram">Human Rights Watch</a>, more than 910 schools have been destroyed by Boko Haram in Nigeria; 600 teachers have been murdered, and thousands have been more forced to flee. </p>
<h2>What the rest of the world can do</h2>
<p>All children have the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=eng">right to an education</a>, and that can only be secured when schools are safe places to study. While the world watches and encourages American children rallying to make their schools safer, it’s a salient time to remember that <a href="https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/10497.pdf">75 million children</a> worldwide experience significant disruption to their education in regions of conflict and insecurity. </p>
<p>Despite the United Nations declaring attacks on schools as one of the <a href="https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/effects-of-conflict/six-grave-violations/">six grave violations</a> that most impact on children during armed conflict, much remains to be done to safeguard education during conflict – particularly for girls. </p>
<p>This is largely because education is not seen as a priority in crisis situations. Its loss is not immediately life-threatening, so it often takes a back seat to other concerns. This forms part of what is sometimes referred to as “<a href="http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/WHS-background-paper.pdf">the humanitarian-development divide</a>” – the disconnect between priorities during protracted crises. Education is often <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Education_Uprooted_DIGITAL.pdf">one of the first services to be lost</a> during a crisis, despite its importance to communities.</p>
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<p>Education attracts <a href="http://www.educationcannotwait.org/the-situation/">less than 2% of global humanitarian aid</a>. Many affected countries invest far more on their military spending <a href="https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2011/hidden-crisis-armed-conflict-and-education">than they do on education</a>. </p>
<p>While many initiatives and funds exist, there is still a need for greater coordination between government bodies and NGOs to effectively mount a response. And with countries slashing their aid budgets, this will become increasingly difficult. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/savage-budget-cuts-pull-australia-down-in-foreign-aid-rankings-58854">Savage budget cuts pull Australia down in foreign aid rankings</a>
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<p>There may also be a lack of political will to confront this problem by countries not directly affected. In Australia, this is reflected by the government’s current <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-other-safe-schools-campaign-that-australia-is-ignoring-20160404-gnxmst.html">failure to endorse</a> the <a href="http://www.protectingeducation.org/draft-lucens-guidelines-protecting-schools-and-universities-military-use-during-armed-conflict">Safe Schools Declaration</a> – an international commitment supporting clear guidelines and reporting mechanisms to protect schools and education during armed conflict. These include the commitment not to use schools or universities for military purposes and to support measures to monitor and report on attacks on schools. </p>
<p>Education is a right, not a luxury to be indulged in better times. To rise out of conflict and create truly stable communities, education is a necessary investment in the future, and the international community shares a collective responsibility to protect it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shireen Daft does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Schools and students are often targeted during times of armed conflict. Abducted children can be recruited as soldiers and schools are ideal locations for military headquarters.Shireen Daft, Lecturer in Law, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/715942017-01-21T22:28:48Z2017-01-21T22:28:48ZDear President Trump: let me share some home truths about Africa with you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153599/original/image-20170120-30764-1aznzqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Al-Shabaab's constant attacks on Somalia are among concerns Donald Trump's advisers have about Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Feisal Omar</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Africa has occupied a more or less constantly <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/africa/1962-01-01/american-policy-africa">insignificant position</a> in both Republican and Democratic administrations in the US since the 1960s. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theglobalist.com/u-s-africa-relations-heart-in-the-darkness/">Studies</a> of US-Africa policies have tended to depict Republican administrations as “globalist” – more likely to look at Africa as part of a bigger picture than as its own unique geopolitical space. Democrats, meanwhile, are <a href="http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/Analysis/Understanding-US-Africa-relations-during-Obama-s-presidency?ct=trueas">perceived</a> “Africanists” who have close sympathies to African interests. </p>
<p>But these distinctions are deceptive. Some Republican administrations, such as that of George W. Bush, paid more attention to African issues such as HIV/AIDS than, for instance, Bill Clinton’s Democratic administration did. There were <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/africa/obama-and-africa">great expectations</a> that Africa would feature prominently during Barack Obama’s presidency. Instead, his administration built on some of the initiatives of the previous Republican governments rather than breaking new or distinctive ground in Africa.</p>
<p>Donald J. Trump is the new man in charge of the US, and Africa seems to have little cause for celebration. During his presidential campaign Trump gave no indication of how his administration would relate to Africa, a continent with a <a href="http://www.experience-africa.de/index.php?en_the-african-diaspora">large diaspora</a> in America. Worries about his stance on Africa were compounded by Trump’s deliberate articulation of divisive policies regarding migration, foreigners, Muslims and race.</p>
<p>In the week before Trump’s inauguration it was reported that the president-elect’s advisers had posed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/world/africa/africa-donald-trump.html?_r=0">pertinent questions</a> to the State Department about Africa. </p>
<p>I’d like to offer unsolicited responses to four of Trump’s questions. I will direct these to the man himself. In doing so, I hope to address the question that’s top of mind for the continent right now: what does a Trump presidency mean for Africa?</p>
<h2>US aid to Africa</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>With so much corruption in Africa, how much of our funding is stolen? Why should we spend these funds on Africa when we are suffering here in the US?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>President Trump, your administration will not be the first to discover that foreign aid is a <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/21/the-prickly-politics-of-aid/">double-edged sword</a>. It rewards autocratic regimes while also strengthening institutions in more democratic ones. So it’s important to understand the institutional conditions under which aid is disbursed. </p>
<p>Your administration should continue the correct policy of selective discrimination of aid recipients. The United States Agency of International Development (USAID) has garnered significant experience in managing aid over the years. You should let it continue the work of putting American dollars where they make a difference. Of course, it is your sovereign responsibility to guarantee that US taxpayers’ money isn’t stolen by venal regimes.</p>
<h2>Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>We have been fighting Al-Shabaab [in Somalia] for decades. Why haven’t we won?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is an unwinnable war. The fight against Al-Shabaab is part of the war on terror that your predecessors prioritised in Africa. The US has made some difference in how Al-Shabaab is managed in Africa, but your administration should seriously rethink its approach if it wants to see genuine change.</p>
<p>Rebuilding the state in Somalia is the antidote to violent extremism. This rebuilding won’t happen when American administrations indiscriminately <a href="http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/attacks-on-us-troops-in-somalia-leads-to-air-strikes-on-al-shabab">drop bombs</a> in Somalia or support <a href="https://intpolicydigest.org/2011/10/13/u-s-policy-towards-the-horn-of-africa/">weak regional governments</a> that may never marshal the resources to defeat the Islamic insurgents. </p>
<p>What is required are renewed efforts to negotiate a political settlement between the Somali government and Al-Shabaab through international mediation. Al-Shabaab may be amenable to negotiations once the relentless drone attacks from America stop and once regional players can be weaned away from unsustainable militarised approaches.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why is the United States bothering to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria? Why have all the [Chibok] <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32299943">school girls</a> kidnapped by the group not been rescued?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Chibok girls may never be found, thanks to the incompetence of the Nigerian military. In the past the Nigerian military was the leading professional army in West Africa. But corruption and political interference have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/the-nigerian-military-is-so-broken-its-soldiers-are-refusing-to-fight/2015/05/06/d56fabac-dcae-11e4-b6d7-b9bc8acf16f7_story.html?utm_term=.9ce9a6b99b53">weakened it</a> significantly. A more capable Nigerian military should be able to defeat Boko Haram without American assistance. Probably the US might channel some aid towards supporting a strengthened Nigerian military so it can take care of its own local problems.</p>
<p>In addition, the best policy toward Boko Haram should be to encourage Nigeria to find negotiated solutions to a problem that stems from political and economic marginalisation.</p>
<h2>The Chinese conundrum</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>Are we losing out to the Chinese?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes. The US has gradually lost out to the Chinese, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-and-why-china-became-africas-biggest-aid-donor-57992">large investments</a> and is <a href="https://theconversation.com/eye-on-africa-us-and-china-tussle-for-economic-influence-37009">trading robustly</a> with Africa. But instead of complaining about the Chinese, your administration should try to figure out why and where they are succeeding in Africa. </p>
<p>If, as you claim, one of your major policies will be to promote business interests abroad, then Africa will need more attention. This, by the way, will not be inconsistent with broad African opinion that clamours for enhanced international investment in Africa.</p>
<h2>Negotiation will be key</h2>
<p>So what does all this tell us about Trump’s stance on and approach to Africa? </p>
<p>First, there is understandable cynicism about Africa from the incoming administration. This is born from the negative images that inhere in a large segment of the American psyche. Gradually, however, this scepticism will be tempered by the realities of dealing with a continent that cannot be written off. Second, all new administrations need to have the space and latitude to question the logic of previous policies, as a starting point for new and innovative policies. </p>
<p>But in foreign policy, clean slates are the exceptions rather than the rule. Thus, there will be both change and continuity in Trump’s African policies. The doomsayers may perhaps be surprised at what comes out of the Trump White House.</p>
<p>Trump will not run the US alone. As has always been the case, American presidents must negotiate policies with Congress. African governments and citizens will hope that these negotiations yield compromises across a wide range of issues that benefit the continent into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gilbert M. Khadiagala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Donald J. Trump is the new man in charge of the US, and Africa seems to have little cause for celebration. But what does the new Commander-in-Chief really think of the continent?Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations and Head of Department, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/665812016-10-07T14:21:51Z2016-10-07T14:21:51ZWhy can’t Nigeria’s president defeat Boko Haram?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140472/original/image-20161005-14246-jz24yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Buhari meets with a woman rescued from Boko Haram.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.epa.eu/war-photos/acts-of-terror-photos/amina-ali-nkeki-meets-nigerian-president-photos-52768094">EPA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Muhammadu Buhari, a disciplinarian former military leader, came to power in Nigeria with a specific mandate to improve on his inept predecessor’s inability to confront the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-boko-haram-is-the-worlds-deadliest-terror-group-54216">torn a terrifying path</a> across the country. Even after the world rallied to help Nigeria rescue the <a href="https://theconversation.com/boko-harams-latest-video-of-captured-schoolgirls-offers-hope-and-despair-63953">276 schoolgirls the group kidnapped</a> in 2014, little if any headway was made, and Goodluck Jonathan, then the president, was duly turfed out of office in a reassuringly orderly election. </p>
<p>Buhari’s victory was <a href="https://theconversation.com/buhari-wins-as-nigeria-turns-its-back-on-jonathan-39619">a chance to turn the tide</a>. But 15 months after he took the helm, Boko Haram has not been defeated – and the huge majority of the 276 kidnapped schoolgirls remain unrescued.</p>
<p>There are three main reasons for this, each of which speaks to Nigeria’s general position of decline and incapacity, of corruption and squandering. Buhari has made no real progress with society at large and scant progress with his military.</p>
<p>Goodluck Jonathan did provide large sums of money to re-equip his floundering soldiers on the frontline with Boko Haram. They had been outgunned and out-manoeuvred by an enemy with faster vehicles and greater firepower. But of the funds earmarked for the fight, plenty never reached the soldiers at the front; large sums were apparently stolen by corrupt generals who were willing to let their men die. </p>
<p>Still, even if the funds had reached the front, they wouldn’t necessarily have been used to buy the right equipment. The Nigerian army’s performance in West African mulitateral missions has earned it a reputation for being rough and indiscriminate – its strategies relying principally on heavy bombardment. In the thick forests where Boko Haram has some of its strongholds this makes little sense – especially given the army has little to no precise intelligence on where its enemy is. </p>
<p>Reconnaissance equipment and aerial heat-seeking capacity would depend on helicopters, drones and aircraft, and the military is not well supplied with those. Buying armoured cars is of no use so long as Boko Haram has lighter, faster vehicles.</p>
<p>Even with the right equipment, military strategy is critical – but there’s no evidence that Buhari’s generals are adequately schooled in modern counterinsurgency tactics. And even where there is some genuine leadership, discipline among the frontline troops can be appalling. Wiping out the villages they are sent to protect doesn’t exactly win hearts and minds.</p>
<p>Soldiers from other national armies are fighting Boko Haram along their borders with Nigeria. But their countries are generally not in meltdown and Boko Haram does not control vast swaths of their territories – nor do their local political figures need to invoke the threat of Boko Haram to leverage their positions. </p>
<h2>Things fall apart</h2>
<p>This fits into a more general malaise that is eating away at Nigerian society, and which Buhari seems equally unable to address.</p>
<p>Something is rotten in Nigeria – and something peculiarly Nigerian at that. Violence has ticked up again in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-peace-can-be-achieved-in-the-niger-delta-55881">Niger Delta</a>, the Christian-Islamic divide is as great as it was when Buhari took office, and his painstakingly chosen cabinet has no great accomplishments to its name. </p>
<p>Everyone who seeks power still seems to be serving vested interests or pursuing personal gain. There is, in many respects, no longer a Nigeria. The name describes little more than a nation-sized slush fund.</p>
<p>All the while, the catastrophic insurrection in the north goes on. The army periodically claims Boko Haram is defeated or on the verge of defeat – and Boko Haram then proves it isn’t. In many ways, it seems better organised and more resilient than the army or the government itself.</p>
<p>On all current indications, Buhari’s return to power is a sad disappointment, and those who want to give him more time find it hard to argue their case. The anguished parents of missing schoolgirls, those who’ve fled shattered villages, and those maimed in suicide bomb attacks are all still wondering why he’s taking so very long even to get started.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Muhammadu Buhari rode into power on a wave of goodwill – but Nigeria’s troubles just won’t go away.Stephen Chan, Professor of World Politics, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/639532016-08-16T10:04:03Z2016-08-16T10:04:03ZBoko Haram’s latest video of captured schoolgirls offers hope and despair<p>The Nigerian militant group <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-boko-haram-is-the-worlds-deadliest-terror-group-54216">Boko Haram</a> stormed back into the world’s headlines with a renewed offer to swap abducted schoolgirls for detained insurgents. It isn’t a particularly original offer – but it has won the group some fresh publicity and may divert attention away from its infighting. </p>
<p>Boko Haram has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/world/africa/boko-haram-attacks-persist-but-nigerian-officials-say-group-is-losing-ground.html?_r=0">lost most of the territory</a> it once controlled in north-east Nigeria and recently split into at least two groups: one faction led by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36963711">Abu Musab al-Barnawi</a> and backed by Islamic State (IS), and another led by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18020349">Abubakar Shekau</a>. This latest proposal comes from Shekau’s faction, which seems to be trying to assert its supremacy despite being cut off from IS. As Shekau himself said in a <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/boko-haram-abubakar-shekau-160804070145823.html">recently released audio recording</a>: “People should know we are still around.”</p>
<p>To do that, it is using a relatively coherent media strategy. As I have explored <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=70OTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=Communicating+Violence:+The+Media+Strategies+of+Boko+Haram&source=bl&ots=IK7DWUH1cU&sig=vg1BM3_DZzbuz9COSrN5tZZ5KP4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIgbio7cPOAhVqKMAKHbalD8IQ6AEIIzAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">in my own research</a>, the insurgents are skilfully using media techniques that sometimes defy modern public relations logic. One such strategy is to mix intimidation with absolute control of the facts: the group’s factions choose precisely which nuggets of information to release to the public, and present them in a deeply intimidating style to simultaneously show off their prowess and terrorise their adversaries. </p>
<p>Their latest video is a perfect example. It <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/14/africa/boko-haram-video-missing-girls/">shows</a> about 50 of the 276 schoolgirls Boko Haram abducted in April 2014 from Government Secondary School Chibok in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno. The girls are shown with a masked gunman who demands the release of captured fellow fighters in return for the girls. </p>
<p>Speaking in Hausa language, the gunman says “the Chibok parents should tell the Federal Government of Nigeria to release our brethren, especially those in custody in Maiduguri, Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country. It is the only condition for the release of these girls”. He says at least 40 of the girls have been married off, and that many were killed in air strikes by the Nigerian air force. </p>
<p>The video also shows footage of bodies, which the group says were victims of the air strikes. One of the girls is also shown pleading with parents to appeal to the government to agree to the swap proposal. Some of the girls weep as she speaks.</p>
<p>This is the third video showing the girls in the group’s custody. The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27389082">first</a> was released in May 2014; in that one, Shekau threatened to sell them as slaves or marry them off. (He appears to have <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/boko-haram-schoolgirls-married-off-10384163">made good</a> on the latter threat.) The second video was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36041635">released in April</a> 2016 during the second anniversary of the abductions, and showed 15 of the girls.</p>
<p>The new video was cleverly designed to shift the blame of the girls’ plight to the government, to show the failure of the military’s bombing campaigns – and more significantly, to accuse them of killing some of the girls with their attacks.</p>
<h2>No direction</h2>
<p>The Nigerian military establishment reacted to the group’s accusations with fury. First it denied that the air strikes caused the girls’ deaths. Defence spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar <a href="http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/nigerian-military-denies-alleged-air-strikes-on-chibok-girls/158915.html">said</a> the military was only engaged in precision air strikes: “The equipment has the capacity of registering targets and hitting only those targets.”</p>
<p>Then the army <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2016/08/14/chibok-girls-nigerian-army-declares-journalist-ahmed-salkida-two-others-wanted-links-boko">declared three people wanted</a>, including Ahmed Salkida, a journalist who supposedly has close contact with the group. A <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2016/08/15/nigeria-army-declares-boko-haram-journalist-and-2-others-wanted/">statement</a> from army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman claimed that the three – Salkida, lawyer Aisha Wakil and activist Ahmed Bolori – “have information on the conditions and the exact location of these girls”. </p>
<p>The civilian authorities too have commented on the video but offered no clues as to their next move. Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the division in Boko Haram’s ranks is <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-14/nigeria-says-chibok-girls-situation-compounded-by-boko-split">complicating the effort</a> to free the girls. “We are on top of the situation. But we are being extremely careful because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram.” </p>
<p>The Bring Back Our Girls campaign dismissed the government’s response as woefully inadequate, demanding “an immediate, transparent action and results-oriented response plan by the government”. Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu, the leaders of the campaign, <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/bbog-identifies-girl-boko-haram-video-dorcas-yakubu/">responded</a> to the recent video in downbeat fashion: “We are left with mixed feelings of grief and strengthened hope as the chilling words continue to sink in.” </p>
<p>All the while, many of the schoolgirls’ parents will be more traumatised than ever. Those who didn’t see their daughters in the new video and heard about the deaths of some girls were left wondering what happened to them. Those who did see their daughters alive will be relieved on one level, but also worried about the condition in which they saw them – and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-37076644">depressed</a> that their return is no more guaranteed than it was two years ago.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63953/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abdullahi Abubakar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The deadly Islamist group Boko Haram has lost ground and split into factions, but it’s far from beaten.Abdullahi Abubakar, Lecturer in Journalism, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/600742016-07-04T04:02:29Z2016-07-04T04:02:29ZBoko Haram: why jaw-jaw might be better than war-war for Nigeria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128721/original/image-20160629-15263-a9rdxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents view an army poster of wanted Boko Haram suspects in Bayelsa, Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Tife Owolabi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is just over a year since General Muhammadu Buhari swept to power amid promises to the Nigerian people that he would succeed where his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan had failed – by defeating the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.</p>
<p>Buhari’s approach has been twofold: he has pursued a determined military onslaught against Boko Haram and taken some significant steps to boost security in the most affected northeastern states. And he has started rooting out corruption in the military. </p>
<p>On Jonathan’s watch, three Nigerian states – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe – were placed under a state of emergency because of the deadly insurgency. Several communities in these states had fallen to the terrorist group. Millions of people have been <a href="http://www.tv360nigeria.com/people-displaced-boko-haram-now-2-17-million/">internally displaced</a>, sheltering in refugee camps within Nigeria. Others have fled to neighbouring states.</p>
<p>On taking office the former military leader-turned-president set December 2015 as the deadline within which to conclusively obliterate Boko Haram. Despite the bold steps he’s taken, the insurgents remain undefeated six months after the deadline expired. </p>
<p>Instead, they have brazenly engaged the Nigerian military in direct combat resulting in the deaths of people. They have also taken to detonating explosives in public places – including <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/boko-haram-children-suicide-bombers-160412093755915.html">suicide attacks</a> in northeastern towns in Nigeria including Zaria, Malari, Potiskum and Zambari Muna near <a href="http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/07/suicide-bombers-kill-over-30-in-cameroon-and-nigeria.php">Maiduguri</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the intransigence and deadly attacks, some progress has been made since Buhari assumed office. But more needs to be done.</p>
<p>As unpalatable as it may seem to many, the Nigerian government cannot shy away from the fact that it will need to sit down with Boko Haram and begin the process of peace building. After all, there are precedents in <a href="http://colombiapeace.org/">Colombia</a> and <a href="http://www.cfr.org/peace-conflict-and-human-rights/northern-ireland-peace-process/p31552">Northern Ireland</a> and elsewhere, where deadly foes eventually met to make peace. </p>
<h2>What’s been done so far</h2>
<p>In his <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/read-president-buhari-inaugural-speech/">inaugural address</a> as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29 2015 Buhari ordered the relocation of the army headquarters from Abuja to Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, in the heart of the insurgency. He pledged that the army headquarters would remain there until Boko Haram was defeated.</p>
<p>The president also reorganised the military in an effort to <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/corruption-military-responsible-nigerias-loss-14-lgas-boko-haram-buhari/">end corruption</a> and restore the dented image of the Nigerian army. He replaced top military commanders deemed to have either corruptly enriched themselves with funds meant for military, or who had acted unprofessionally by indulging in politics.</p>
<p>The move lifted the morale of despondent soldiers who had been deprived of essential equipment, often due to the corruption and greed of their superiors.
The new commanders also set to work restoring the army’s battered image.</p>
<p>The “cleansing” of the military afforded Nigeria the opportunity to reestablish trust with leading states in the global fight against terrorism, notably France, the United Kingdom and the US. All <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201605160925.html">pledged their support</a> in sharing intelligence information with the new administration in its effort to defeat Boko Haram.</p>
<p>Another plus was that cross border Boko Haram activities saw Nigeria and its neighbours put aside their longstanding border disputes to confront their common enemy. The terrorist group now finds itself facing an <a href="http://pncp.net/news/regional-multinational-joint-task-force-combat-boko-haram">8,700-strong</a> multinational joint task force composed of soldiers from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.</p>
<p>The military offensive has succeeded in the recapture of territories previously held by the militants. It’s important to note, though, that some of the feats of success occurred a few weeks into Buhari’s administration. This was due to the <a href="http://www.channelstv.com/2015/03/22/nigerian-forces-show-readiness-to-provide-adequate-security-during-elections/">pre-electoral security measures</a> put in place by the Jonathan administration.</p>
<p>Thus, one year after Buhari became president, the terror acts that made Boko Haram the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-boko-haram-is-the-worlds-deadliest-terror-group-54216">deadliest terrorist group</a> in the world have been <a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/03/21/defeating-boko-haram/">significantly contained</a> – largely thanks to the multinational joint task force’s efforts. But the menace has yet to be totally eliminated. </p>
<p>Attacks on communities in the northeastern states – where people now face <a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20160524174947-7p1kt">famine</a> – and communities in Cameroon and Chad, which border with Nigeria, continue. A number of issues still need to be addressed. </p>
<p>So far only two out of the more than <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36338989">200 kidnapped Chibok girls</a> have been rescued by the Nigerian military. Most of the girls are still being held in the fortress of the militants – the <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/the-forest-concealing-boko-haram/3343895.html">Sambisa forest</a>. </p>
<p>Buhari has pledged his government’s resolve to negotiate the release of the girls since he assumed office. But there is no evidence of progress. In addition, thousands of people are still displaced, both internally and externally. And the militants continue to attack communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128724/original/image-20160629-15282-198owr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128724/original/image-20160629-15282-198owr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128724/original/image-20160629-15282-198owr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128724/original/image-20160629-15282-198owr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128724/original/image-20160629-15282-198owr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128724/original/image-20160629-15282-198owr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128724/original/image-20160629-15282-198owr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nigerian military with young men rescued from suspected Boko Haram terrorists after an operation in Borno State.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The insurgency also continues to have a debilitating effect on the livelihoods of the people living in the three most heavily affected northeastern states, and hopelessness reigns. </p>
<h2>Let peace building begin</h2>
<p>The war is certainly not over, and it is puerile to assume that war against terrorism can be won with only <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/opinion/can-boko-haram-be-defeated.html?_r=0">military might</a>.</p>
<p>It is indeed obvious that military power has not succeeded in eliminating global terrorism. In Nigeria, no matter what the challenges associated with the intransigence of militants are, the political strategy suitable for getting the country back is effective peace building. Admittedly, this is not the preferred approach of the <a href="https://www.law.upenn.edu/live/files/5141-legitimacy-and-complexity-in-terrorist-conflicts--">global hawks</a> in the fight against terrorism</p>
<p>The challenge is that peace building takes longer to fully realise its objectives. But Buhari would do well to follow the advice of the 19th century Prussian military strategist, <a href="https://global.britannica.com/biography/Carl-von-Clausewitz">Carl Von Clausewitz</a>. He famously asserted that warfare was a continuation of politics by other means:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We see, therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by <a href="http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/clausewitz-war-as-politics-by-other-means">other means</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>British prime minister <a href="https://global.britannica.com/biography/Winston-Churchill">Winston Churchill</a> remarked: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war" (and) In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/01/19/the-40-greatest-quotes-from-winston-churchill-n1492794">magnanimity</a>. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These point to one thing – peacemaking. Their argument is simple: military action alone is not sustainable and risks failing unless it is founded on a concrete political strategy that sustains it. </p>
<p>What would it involve? A peace process would provide amnesty for former combatants as well as their reintegration into the civilian life. It would also provide for a process of reconciliation. </p>
<p>In the case of Nigeria, it would also require the provision of socioeconomic opportunities for the devastated northeastern states, which are important for sustainable peace to be achieved in the long run. </p>
<p>The President’s decision to negotiate for the release of the Chibok girls is the first peace overture to be extended to the militants. The government needs to follow through with it and not relent, no matter the difficulties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abdul-Jalilu Ateku receives funding from the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK for a doctoral degree at the University of Nottingham</span></em></p>Despite military successes against Boko Haram, Nigeria needs to face up to the unpalatable truth that military force alone will not win the deadly war, and start discussions about peace building.Abdul-Jalilu Ateku, PhD Candidate in International Relations, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588072016-05-12T13:39:39Z2016-05-12T13:39:39ZNigeria faces new security threat fuelled by climate change and ethnicity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122099/original/image-20160511-18150-3dh5o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tensions between cattle herders and crop-farming communities in Nigeria have escalated in the past few months.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forging national unity has been a perennial challenge to Nigeria’s evolution as a country. Since independence from Britain <a href="http://global.britannica.com/place/Nigeria">56 years ago</a>, the country continues to weather severe existential storms that strike at its very core. </p>
<p>These make national cohesion and political stability largely elusive. They include: a bloody civil war in the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wqN9BgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=nigeria,+civil+war+in+the+1960s,&ots=MNQBqSFHzE&sig=FliM_Tj9ThQpF9sdp-bk8d5UbnQ#v=onepage&q=nigeria%2C%20civil%20war%20in%20the%201960s%2C&f=false">1960s</a>; decades of corrupt military dictatorships; perennial inter-ethnic distrust; occasional religious strife and political insurrection; minority and resource rights agitation; and a trademark corrupt political and ruling class.</p>
<p>Recently, Nigeria’s sociopolitical and geopolitical tensions have taken on another dimension. This is evident in the escalating bloody clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farmers. Though there are <a href="http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/eke/050816.html">alternative narratives</a>, the ongoing tensions reflect, in a way, climate change-induced resource scarcity that threatens food and national security.</p>
<p>Nigeria is by far Africa’s most ethnically diverse country. It has an estimated <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=x3gAB7A6-bgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA243&dq=nigeria,+250+ethnic+nationalities&ots=xhCGc2w5-M&sig=7eiVMD-9mY2Iu36ffpnT-PCxhno#v=onepage&q=nigeria%2C%20250%20ethnic%20nationalities&f=false">250 ethnic nationalities</a>. Its most visible faultline is its stark religious divide between the Islamic North and Christian/animist South. This is a less accurate simplification of a complex dynamic. </p>
<p>Before <a href="http://global.britannica.com/place/Nigeria">Nigeria’s independence</a>, the British in 1914 coupled independently administered protectorates of southern and northern Nigeria by fiat as an act of convenience, before bowing out 46 years later in 1960.</p>
<h2>Boko Haram</h2>
<p>Triggered by a complex mix of factors, Nigeria’s security challenges continue to escalate. In the past eight years the Boko Haram insurgence has placed the country on the global <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-boko-haram-is-the-worlds-deadliest-terror-group-54216">jihadist map</a>. </p>
<p>The failure to rescue the nearly 250 <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/13/africa/chibok-girls-new-proof-of-life-video/">Chibok girls</a> Boko Haram abducted is a scar on the conscience of the government.</p>
<p>And a recent skirmish between the military and members of the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35342215">Shiite Islamic sect</a> points to the escalating security crisis. The military is accused of extrajudicial killings of Shiite adherents.</p>
<p>The development puts Nigeria’s abysmal <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/nigeria">human rights record</a> under stress. It also potentially places the country in the middle of muscle-flexing by competing Islamic powers outside its borders. For example, Iran was quick to express concern over the Shiite <a href="http://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2015/12/16/massacre-of-shia-in-northern-nigeria-an-opening-for-iran/">incident</a>. Iran is a leading Shiite nation, with its eyes on the treatment of a Shiite religious minority in a country with majority Sunni adherents.</p>
<p>While the Boko Haram insurgence keeps mutating, Nigeria is experiencing another dangerous chapter in its security challenge. </p>
<h2>A new security threat</h2>
<p>In the past several months <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/203225-herdsmenfarmers-clashes-nigerian-govt-proposes-ranches-herdsmen-insist-grazing-routes.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">tensions have escalated</a> between nomadic cattle herders and traditional crop-farming communities. Some traditional and farming communities in central and southern Nigeria have been overrun by herders who are accused of grazing their cattle on crop fields. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/04/the-agatu-massacre/">country’s media</a> is dominated by reports of maiming, killings, rape and other forms of banditry associated with highly armed nomadic herders. Unofficial figures put the death toll from one such incident in Enugu State, in the south-eastern region, at <a href="http://pulse.ng/local/in-enugu-many-killed-as-suspected-fulani-herdsmen-invade-community-id4959890.html">about 100</a>.</p>
<p>In the absence of state protection, these events have fuelled affected communities’ support for ethnic or regional militias as a civic defence strategy. The clashes between herdsmen and farmers strike at the core of Nigeria’s vulnerable ethno-political faultlines. They also have ramifications for climate change and food security.</p>
<p>Crop farmers produce more than 80% of Nigeria’s food. Leaving this critical lifeblood of the country’s economic and cultural life at the mercy of herders and their cattle is not an option. Farmers, the majority of whom are women, constitute the bedrock of the country’s <a href="http://www.unilorin.edu.ng/publications/lawalwa/IMPACT%20OF%20INFORMAL%20AGRICULTURAL%20FINANCING%20ON%20AGRICULTURAL%20PR.pdf">informal economy</a>. And the unofficial farming sector is the country’s <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/integration-of-agriculture-informal-sectors-into-economy-could-increase-insurance-penetration-mokwunye/">highest employer</a> of labour. Now this key economic sector is under siege.</p>
<p>Itinerant herding is an age-long practice. Like all aspects of culture and civilisation, its purveyors must adapt to new realities. In a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria, coexistence, and not conquest, is a sacred code of social cohesion. </p>
<p>The ongoing resource and environmental tension represented by the clash between herders and crop farmers has embedded religious significance. Most itinerant herders are northerners and adherents of the Islamic faith. Their clashes with farmers happen mainly in the central and southern regions, where most people are Christian and animist.</p>
<h2>Climate change, religion and ethnicity</h2>
<p>Perennial ethnic and religious suspicion in Nigeria often fuels apprehensions of an ulterior jihadist agenda. This has a significant security dimension that can easily be exploited. There is a perception of state impunity for the herders, given the evident lack of resolve to rein them in. Noble Laureate Wole Soyinka <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201604290228.html">has said</a> the government’s response </p>
<blockquote>
<p>smacks of abject appeasement and encouragement of violence on innocents. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nigeria needs an urgent response before the current crisis festers like the Boko Haram malaise. </p>
<p>The herder-farmer crisis demonstrates the reality of the climate change and resource control interface, and its embedded security challenges. The scarcity of water and shrinking of grazing fields in the desert north appear to be pushing herders southwards to the grasslands of the savannas and forests.</p>
<p>The skirmish over natural resources, namely water and grazing fields, could become more dire as the impact of climate change takes hold. That struggle has significant security implications for Nigeria and other African countries. Its resolution requires thoughtful intervention. This should include a combination of policy options rooted in technology and innovation, as well as political and sustainability policy responses.</p>
<p>Nigeria could be a perfect test case of the intersection of these interrelated elements. A national strategy based on innovation, security, sustainability and political will is urgently required. It needs to be designed to mediate the present agro-ecological tension that threatens Africa’s <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-06/nigerian-economy-overtakes-south-africa-s-on-rebased-gdp">largest economy</a> and its <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/continents/africa-population/">most populous nation</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chidi Oguamanam receives funding from the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council . He is affiliated with the Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) Network </span></em></p>Escalating clashes between herders and farmers in Nigeria threaten the country’s national and food security. A response based on innovation, sustainability and political will is urgently needed.Chidi Oguamanam, Professor of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/361642015-03-27T12:48:44Z2015-03-27T12:48:44ZBoko Haram’s six years of terror have revealed the depth of Nigeria’s troubles<p>As Nigeria’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-election-delay-shows-depths-to-which-goodluck-jonathan-will-sink-37594">rescheduled election</a> approaches, the international community, especially Europe and <a href="http://nigeria.usembassy.gov/pr_03212015.html">America</a>, have insisted that the will of the people should and must be heard – since the “<a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/178950-falana-warns-of-coup-says-elections-may-not-hold.html">security concerns</a>” that shifted the elections have apparently been substantially addressed. </p>
<p>But many commentators take a different view, and see critical <a href="http://newafricanmagazine.com/winning-easy-part/">challenges</a> in Nigeria’s immediate future, regardless of whether Goodluck Jonathan survives or loses. And there is scarcely a more terrifying challenge on the horizon than the lethal six-year insurgency fought by Boko Haram.</p>
<h2>Rotten record</h2>
<p>Ever since coming to prominence in 2002, the Jama’atu Ahl us-Sunnah Li’da’awati Wal Jihad (The Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Struggle) saga, popularly referred to as Boko Haram (loosely, “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13809501">Western Education is Forbidden</a>”, has made a mockery of all Nigeria’s state institutions, and its military above all. </p>
<p>Claiming to be the <a href="http://www.salafimanhaj.com/?p=44">Firqat un-Naji’ah</a> (the “Saved” sect), Boko Haram seeks to create a “pure” Islamic state, in which it <a href="https://theconversation.com/boko-haram-the-terror-group-that-kidnapped-200-schoolgirls-25931">implements a brand of Sharia law</a> under which Muslims, Christians and atheists who oppose their doctrine <a href="http://zainabusman.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/what-does-boko-haram-want-insights-by-ahmad-salkida/">must face death</a>.</p>
<p>Nigeria’s relatively poor governance has provided a febrile atmosphere for the group. With widespread corruption, poverty, security force abuses and impunity, there has been little to stop Boko Haram’s troops from repeatedly attacking strategic <a href="http://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/category/nigeria/nigeria-security-tracker/">targets</a>, destroying lives and property and <a href="http://www.channelstv.com/2014/02/25/students-killed-in-fresh-school-attack-in-yobe/">slaughtering</a> almost everyone in their path. </p>
<p>Since a <a href="http://www.dw.de/nigerias-state-of-emergency-a-failure/a-18079380">state of emergency</a> was imposed in three states in North Eastern Nigeria (Borno, Yobe and Adamawa) in 2012, the Nigerian state charged with the responsibility of securing and protecting lives and property seems incapable of the great task of providing a safe and <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2014/10/28/displaced-documentary-about-nigerians-turned-refugees-inside-their-country-boko-haram">protected environment</a> for its citizens.</p>
<h1>BringBackOurGirls</h1>
<p>On April 14 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped from the Girls Secondary School in Chibok, setting off a roller coaster of inconsistencies and walk-backs that in the end have come to nothing.</p>
<p>The response to the kidnapping was greatly complicated not just by the fear instilled by the sect, but also by the response of the Nigerian government and its sympathisers. The messages coming out of Abuja about the girls’ fate have been conflicted and confusing to say the least. </p>
<p>In place of decisive and effective action to find the girls, <a href="http://leadership.ng/news/370096/falana-condemns-patience-jonathan-others-claim-chibok-girls">questions have been raised</a> about the real motive behind the attacks and the actual number of girls kidnapped. At one point, the <a href="http://abusidiqu.com/chibok-girls-rescue-chronicle-false-narratives-inconsistencies-nigerian-government-sesugh-akume/">director of Defence Information</a> announced the rescue of 129 girls – but then retracted his statement the next day. </p>
<p><a href="http://time.com/3540263/girls-boko-haram-escape/">57 of the 276 girls escaped</a>, The Nigerian military’s inability to <a href="http://www.hrw.org/reports/2014/10/27/those-terrible-weeks-their-camp-0">locate</a> and rescue the remaining 219 girls led to local and international outrage, even as the <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/167179-day-130-bringbackourgirls-protest.html">#BBOG</a> movement seeking the girls’ <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29762252">release</a> spread around the world. By the end of 2014, the response had descended into depressing <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-10-16-battling-boko-haram-and-apathy">apathy</a> – and the schoolgirls have <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/missing-nigeria-girls-fade-from-election-campaign-1423785791">hardly featured</a> in the 2015 presidential campaign. </p>
<h2>Chaos reigns</h2>
<p>The same confusion and impotence that hobbled the search for the girls has marked the whole of Nigeria’s response to Boko Haram’s unpredictable and murderous advance.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.thecable.ng/boko-haram-release-chibok-girls-monday">ceasefire deal</a>, announced on October 17 2014, which was brokered by the Nigerian state through the Chadian government, was <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/170441-full-transcript-of-shekaus-latest-video-on-ceasefire-deal-chibok-girls.html">denied</a> by Abubakar Shekau, the acclaimed leader of the sect, further debunking <a href="http://www.thecable.ng/breaking-boko-haram-announces-ceasefire">statements</a> by the Nigerian state, as well as the bogus identities of the Boko Haram negotiators. </p>
<p>Since being dislodged from Maiduguri and relocating to the Sambisa forest in southern Borno State after a joint offensive of the Nigerian military and the civilian vigilante militia (CJTF), Boko Haram has hardly backed down.</p>
<p>It declared a <a href="http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-haram-declares-gwoza-caliphate/">caliphate</a> with headquarters at Gwoza in August 2014, which was again put under its draconian flavour of <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31522469">Sharia</a>. The January 3 2015 <a href="https://theconversation.com/baga-devastated-a-horror-story-however-many-people-died-36093">assault on the border town of Baga</a> on Lake Chad and the camp of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30672391">MNJTF</a>) was possibly the <a href="http://www.afp.com/en/node/3277712#.VRCTCfmsV8E">deadliest massacre</a> the group has ever perpetrated. It also exposed the cripplingly low <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2014/12/23/why-we-cant-defeat-boko-haram-army-commander-and-family-threatened-over-letter-jonathan">morale</a> and professionalism that hobbles the Nigerian military.</p>
<p>With <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31113509">tensions</a> rising as a result of the presidential <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/13/nigeria-election-divisions_n_6669550.html">elections</a> scheduled for February 2015 – and facing a credible <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/20/video-we-made-jega-shift-election-because-it-was-clear-buhari-would-win-february-14th-dr">threat</a> from a strong and viable <a href="http://aguntasolo.com/2014/12/30/why-buhari/">opposition</a>, the Nigerian government <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/20/video-we-made-jega-shift-election-because-it-was-clear-buhari-would-win-february-14th-dr">orchestrated</a> a six-week postponement of the polls till March 28, citing some bogus <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31296078">security</a> reasons.</p>
<p>Suddenly, what seemed impossible to achieve in six years was being promised in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/11485024/We-will-eradicate-Boko-Haram-within-a-months-says-Nigeria-president.html">six weeks</a>. With the approval of the African Union, a multinational response spearheaded by Cameroon, Chad and Niger, with Nigeria in <a href="http://www.punchng.com/news/bharam-nigeria-pays-chadian-nigerien-soldiers-n146m-monthly/">tow</a>, which has led to Boko Haram fighters fleeing from several locations in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/world/africa/nigerian-army-noticeably-absent-in-town-taken-from-boko-haram.html?_r=1">north-eastern</a> part of Nigeria, is still plagued by operational <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-pitched-private-fighting-forc#.xf9rjjKYB">inconsistencies</a> from the Nigerian side as a result of six years of inaction.</p>
<p>All in all, the progress of the anti-Boko Haram coalition has been marred by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31162979">cross-border attacks</a> and competing claims and denials about <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32058172">new kidnappings</a> – so much so that it is very difficult to know where the battle against Boko Haram stands. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the chaos of the whole Boko Haram affair has done nothing to ease the <a href="http://businessdayonline.com/2014/09/heda-seeks-icc-intervention/#.VKo9vyusV8E">mood of Nigerian society</a>. People are sceptical, doubtful, disappointed and angry with the poor show of political will and outright incompetence with which the authorities have met the six-year insurgency. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.huhuonline.com/index.php/opinions/4287-challenges-of-governance-in-era-of-insurgency">road map</a> to counter the Boko Haram insurgency may be finally working by some measures, but the integrity of the nation is at stake. Whoever wins the election has a daunting task ahead: to cast aside the political and ethnic constraints that have <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/176310-jonathan-unveils-new-nigeria-security-strategy.html">weakened</a> the legitimacy of the state and the military for too long.</p>
<p>The bodies lying in Boko Haram’s wake are the measure of that failure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zainab Mai-Bornu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Nigeria goes to the polls, the fight against Boko Haram may be reaching a turning point – but in whose favour?Zainab Mai-Bornu, PhD Student, Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/331702014-10-20T05:35:54Z2014-10-20T05:35:54ZBoko Haram announces truce to release kidnapped schoolgirls but deal is plagued by doubts<p>Nigeria – and the world – await with bated breath credible confirmation that the government has been able to agree a lasting ceasefire deal with Boko Haram. Reports <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/17/nigeria-hope-kidnapped-schoolgirls-rise-ceasefire-reported-boko-haram">have emerged that a deal has been signed</a> with the insurgent group which will mean the release of the 217 Chibok schoolgirls abducted in April and an end to the violence and terror which has plagued the country for more than a decade. </p>
<p>As the respected Nigerian journalist, Simon Kolawole, has written of the announcement: <a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/a-peace-deal-long-overdue/191619/">this will mean different things to different people</a>. For some Nigerians, it could be an early Christmas gift. To even imagine that the insurgents or terrorists are ready to abandon their aspirations of establishing an Islamic state and establish a dialogue with the government is a huge relief. </p>
<p>For the soldiers forced to fight under very constrained conditions, with thousands dead – and without adequate compensation from the government – any kind of ceasefire is a welcome development. Meanwhile the parents of the stolen girls abducted on April 14 will be hoping against hope this is a chance they have been praying for to secure the safe return of their daughters. </p>
<p>Meanwhile for many in the military and security hierarchy, a ceasefire agreement with a group of terrorists will represent something of a humiliation. After all, terrorism as waged by Boko Haram has not been criminal activity so much as all-out warfare on the Nigerian state. Boko Haram’s soldiers are “unlawful combatants” that have committed acts contrary to international humanitarian law and therefore deserve nothing but death.</p>
<h2>Credibility problems</h2>
<p>The first inklings of this particular ceasefire agreement were heard on October 16 when Danladi Ahmadu, who claimed to be the “secretary-general” of Boko Haram, told the Voice of America (VOA) <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29667078">that an agreement had been reached between</a> his group and the Nigerian government with the involvement of officials from Chad and Cameroon.
This was subsequently confirmed by the chief of Nigeria’s defence staff Air Marshall Alex Badeh in a news conference. </p>
<p>But there are some credibility problems with this ceasefire agreement. First there is <a href="http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2014/10/17/news-analysis-ahmadu-boko-haram-broker-most-likely-an-impostor/">huge scepticism about the identity of Danladi Ahmadu</a>. In his VOA interview, Ahmadu even referred to Boko Haram as Boko Haram and not its real name, <a href="http://www.usip.org/publications/what-boko-haram">Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lidda’awati wal Jihad</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, it is difficult to ascertain if Ahmadu is representing a particular faction of Boko Haram or the group’s mainstream leadership. <a href="http://cpj.org/tags/Ahmad%20Salkida">Ahmad Salkida</a>, a Nigerian journalist with proven records of contact with the leadership of Boko Haram, dented the credibility of the ceasefire and appeared to suggest that Nigeria may have been hoodwinked by the broker. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The leadership of #BH are said to be miffed that a nation of the profile and magnitude of Nigeria, with high level of intelligent people, is being easily encased in deceit and nobody seems to be asking tough questions</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Who calls the shots?</h2>
<p>The problem with assessing news such as this is that it’s very difficult to pin down the <a href="https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/leadership-analysis-of-boko-haram-and-ansaru-in-nigeria">various factions of Boko Haram</a> and the tactics and ideologies employed by the various groups. In terms of religious ideology, the <a href="http://www.jamestown.org/programs/tm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40287&cHash=bd00ee2691b7992de9fe4f8e2241841a#.VEO94_ldWSo">Yusufiya Islamic Movement</a> (YIM), comprised of the original followers of the group’s founder Mohamed Yusuf, who was <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2009/07/2009730174233896352.html">reportedly killed in 2009 in police custody</a>, emerged to challenge the group’s new leader, Abubakar Shekau for staging a “false holy war” and introducing the concept of takfirism in order to target Muslims and non-Muslims alike.</p>
<p>Later in 2012, <a href="http://mlm.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=39564&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=539&cHash=268f317c28e5f58115c512c17f744bd8#.VEO-3vldWSo">ANSARU</a> emerged as a Boko Haram splinter, rejecting takfirism and the killing of innocent Muslims. In retaliation, Boko Haram killed the defectors and leaked details of their cells to the security forces, which led to the YIM and ANSARU becoming virtually inactive in 2012 and 2013, respectively.</p>
<p>A new faction led by Abu Muhammed, Muhammad Marwana and Abu Zamira emerged in 2013, challenging Shekau’s conflict strategy of refusing to negotiate with the Nigerian government. <a href="http://morocconewstribune.com/nigerias-boko-haram-declared-cease-fire/">Abu Muhammed declared a ceasefire</a> after two meetings with the Nigerian government in Saudi Arabia, in February 2013, endorsed by Marwana. In July 2013, Abu Zamira, confirmed during an interview with VOA Hausa that most members of Shekau’s Council were willing to negotiate without Shekau and in August 2013, <a href="http://newsrescue.com/boko-leadership-tussle-new-bloodthirsty-marwana-declares-tutelage-says-shekau-out-but-not-dead/#axzz3GbHT1mQQ">Abu Zamira and Marwana announced that Shekau was no longer the group’s leader</a>. </p>
<p>It is not even clear <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18020349">whether Shekau is alive or dead</a>. The Nigerian army declared Shekau dead in July 2009, only for Shekau to reappear in July 2010 after 12 months in hiding. In June 2013 the Nigerian military claimed to have killed Shekau in June 2013 while in September 2014, Cameroonian soldiers claimed to have killed the same Shekau in a shoot-out in Gamboru. </p>
<p>In July 2013, Marwana, with the knowledge of the Nigerian government, gleefully announced a ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram on the Hausa Service of Radio France International and sought Nigerians’ forgiveness for the sect’s violence and murders. </p>
<p>Meanwhile Nigeria’s federal government set up a committee to work out the details of whether and how <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22105476">anmesty might be granted to members of Boko Haram</a> and a peace deal was signed by Marwana and the Nigerian government’s minister of special duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki. </p>
<p>As we now know, far from giving peace a chance, Boko Haram actively stepped up its deadly campaign after the signing of the agreement.</p>
<h2>Playing politics</h2>
<p>Most security analysts and commentators now agree that Boko Haram, and the inability of the government of Goodluck Jonathan to defeat the group, has become a major issue for the country’s elections in 2015. </p>
<p>It is clear that military force alone cannot defeat Boko Haram. But despite this the Nigerian government appears to emphasise physical security through the presence of military, police and intelligence agents – and pays minimal attention to human development issues, which are essential for sustainable national security. </p>
<p>Nigeria is fighting a war that its soldiers are ill-prepared for, a war made more difficult by the unconventional tactics of the insurgents and the difficult terrain of the north-eastern region. But, perhaps most importantly, the Boko Haram conflict has created an i<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/jul/11/boko-haram-nigeria-violence-corruption-security">ndependent economy</a> that senior politicians and military officials are benefiting from in different ways - not all of them legal. </p>
<p>Ending the conflict will bring an end to this clandestine economy. In which case, the world will have to watch carefully to see if this latest promise will bear fruit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Atta Barkindo receives funding from the ESRC.</span></em></p>Nigeria – and the world – await with bated breath credible confirmation that the government has been able to agree a lasting ceasefire deal with Boko Haram. Reports have emerged that a deal has been signed…Atta Barkindo, PhD researcher, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.