Only if the government tackles misrule and endemic corruption will the jihadist group be beaten
IS BOKO HARAM becoming Africa’s Islamic State? In its bloodlust and ambition to hold territory, it certainly resembles the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. Boko Haram has carved out a “caliphate” the size of Belgium in the impoverished north-eastern corner of Nigeria. And like IS, it is exporting jihad across post-colonial borders (see article).
What started as a radical but mostly political movement in 2002 has turned, especially since a heavy-handed crackdown in 2009, into a jihadist insurgency that has grown more violent every year. In April 2014 it abducted 276 girls from the town of Chibok. Some fled, some died, and many were sold into slavery or forced to “marry” fighters. Now the uprising is spreading to other countries. A week ago, 80 Cameroonians were kidnapped. Chad is sending troops to help Cameroon; Niger and Benin also feel threatened.
In the same week the world was outraged by jihadist attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, little attention was paid to news that as many as 2,000 had been killed by Boko Haram in and around the Nigerian town of Baga. Some people accuse Western journalists of double standards, and there is a proper debate to be had about news values. But the accusation misses the real outrage: Nigeria’s own leaders have wilfully ignored the carnage in their country. President Goodluck Jonathan was quick to denounce the attack against Charlie Hebdo, but it took him nearly a fortnight to speak out about the wanton destruction in Baga.
When asked about the five-year-old insurgency, which has so far killed some 16,000 people and displaced about a million, Mr Jonathan says that Boko Haram is part of an international problem, implying that Nigeria cannot tackle it alone. But he cannot shirk responsibility. Boko Haram is, first and foremost, a product of Nigeria’s broken and kleptocratic politics which now risks destabilising neighbouring states.
Even the prospect of elections on February 14th has failed to galvanise Mr Jonathan. Ironically, Boko Haram’s success has made his re-election more likely. The president’s political base is in the mainly Christian south which, untroubled by the northern insurgency, is enjoying an economic boom. The chances of his main rival, Muhammadu Buhari, a tough northern ex-general, have been dealt a blow by Boko Haram’s displacement of many of his potential supporters.
Bad luck, Nigeria
There are tentative signs that a more concerted approach to dealing with the menace may be emerging. This week the UN Security Council urged countries in the region to combine their efforts against the Islamists. A day later, officials from west African states met in Niger to discuss the creation of a multinational task-force. Encouraging though such moves are, a joint force will not be effective unless Nigeria is prepared to confront its problems.
There is plenty that a determined Nigerian government could do. For a start, the country needs better-resourced and more law-abiding security services. Nigeria spends $6 billion a year on defence and security but soldiers often mutiny or desert, in part because senior officers skim off money for kit and pocket the lower ranks’ wages. Many citizens are almost as terrified of the undisciplined army and police as they are of Boko Haram. Systemic corruption and misrule have fed Islamic radicalisation and ethnic militancy in other ways, by robbing the poorer north of its share of federal oil revenues and stunting its development. If Mr Jonathan or his successor does not start dealing with the insurgency and its causes, the government may well find it does not have a country to govern.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "The black flag in Africa"
