THE WIDER INTERNATIONAL FIGHT AGAINST BOKO HARAM

“The murderous campaign waged by Boko Haram demands stronger and more coordinated action from us all. Regional and international efforts must focus on protecting communities in northern Nigeria and across borders. More than a million internally displaced people and refugees must be able to return home,”  Ban Ki-moon

The last Africa Union Summit at Addis Ababa produced amongst several resolutions a concerted multinational action force against the Boko Haram movement in Nigeria; for the first time in 6yrs since the start of Boko Haram’s murderous insurrection, a tangible offensive was being executed against the rampaging terrorists who have seized swaths of territory in North Eastern Nigeria and declaring an Islamic caliphate.

Mapping the Boko Haram Conflict in North Eastern Nigeria
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boko_Haram_in_Lake_Chad_Region.png

Not limiting their invasive menace to Nigerian territory, Boko Haram has launched cross-border attacks at Northern Cameroun, burning settlements and kidnapping people. Of the several marauding and menacing activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria, the one that first grabbed international attention was the kidnap of over 270 school girls at a secondary school in Chibok on the 14th of April 2014. For the first time, a protest was launched by Nigerians online and on the streets, challenging the Nigerian government to #BringBackOurGirls. Originating from the streets of Abuja, it gained international acclaim with solidarity protests in major cities worldwide. Even young Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai had to visit the Nigerian president to express international concern for the cause.

Obiageli Ezekwensili leading the initiation of the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign at Abuja
Source: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=83030

After several embarrassing defeats suffered by the Nigerian Army in the fight against the terrorists, which emboldened cross-border attacks against Cameroun by Boko Haram, there was international concern that Boko Haram was toeing the path of the Islamic State (IS) in inflicting a regional terrorist menace thus threatening the stability of Nigeria, Cameroun, Niger, Chad and the wider West and Central Africa Sub-region. With a resurging activity of Alshabab in East Africa and Libya being made ungovernable by several Islamist Militant groups, Africa could not afford another new militant front in West Africa.

Nigeria, being Africa’s most populous Nation and wielding socio-economic powers within West Africa and Africa, could not be allowed to crumble under the binge of Extremist Islamist Militancy.  Aside from the fear of losing an economic powerhouse with its enormous human and natural resources to instability, Nigeria’s neighbours are heavily dependent on her for their socio-economic survival and will crumble under the sheer weight of the influx of refugees from an unstable Nigeria.

Though there have been attempts to the formation of a Multinational Joint Task Force to curb the cross-border menace of Boko Haram, contributing countries (Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroun) initially had not been sincere in maintaining the creed, and that, in part, resulted in the capture of the Multi-National Joint Task Force Base at Baga in January 2015 by Boko Haram.

Armed with loots of weaponry from Baga and other captured Nigerian Army Bases, Boko Haram was poised to carry out their menacing threat to undermine the Nigerian government and, indeed, that of its neighbours. Faced with this threat and the associated problem of stifled economic activities cum refugee influx, Nigeria’s neighbours had no choice but to take the fight to Boko Haram in Nigeria instead of waiting at the borders to repel them.

Following the recommendations of the Africa Union Peace and Security Council, the Africa Union at the last Summit passed a resolution calling for the formation of a Multi-National Joint Taskforce to crush Boko Haram. A force of 7500 soldiers comprising 3,250 Nigerian soldiers, 3,000 Chadian Soldiers, 950 soldiers from Cameroon, 750 from Niger and the remaining 750 from Benin. These figures include not only infantry troops and artillery but also gendarmes and police squads, as well as engineering, logistical and civilian units.

“Nigeria must get involved and honour its promise of providing between 2,500 and 3,000 to the multinational force,” Colonel Didier Badjeck Cameroon’s defence spokesman. 

After several years of mistrust and territorial disputes between Nigeria and her neighbours, for the first time, the once dis-consonant neighbours have agreed to work together to quench a marauding threat to peace and economic development within their common borders, thus providing an African Solution to an African problem.

Though Chad has taken it upon itself to spearhead hostilities against Boko Haram across the borders and spearheading the international force action against Boko Haram within Nigerian territory, the onus and impetus in the counter-insurgency against Boko Haram still lies on Nigeria’s security forces, who themselves are doing their fighting bit to exterminate once and for all the budding threat of Islamic militancy within its borders. Ensuring the Boko Haram menace is nullified once and for all. Never again!

THE INTRICASIES OF A MALIAN ‘AZAWADSTAN’ ; A RALLYING CALL FOR IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION

"Everyone knew this situation was coming; everyone knew that AQIM was present in the region; everyone knew that the Tuareg rebellion from 2008 in Mali had not been decapitated. And yet the Malians did not act."....... Bazoum Mohammed, Niger's foreign minister.        

The situation in Northern Mali, where a rebellion by Tuaregs and Islamic Militants declared a ‘liberated Azawad’ in the North of Mali and then pushed to the government-controlled South, has alarmed the international community, particularly France. From the dust raised in the recent clash between the Malian Military and extremist Islamic Militant groups, top of which is the ‘Ansar Dine and Mujao’, both are thought to be part of an extensive network of Al-Queda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)- though having different ideologies as against the Tuareg rebels of Northern Mali,  the rebellious forces united for a cause---‘shaking off Northern Mali or Azawad from Malian control’.

The vast arid North of Mali (an area the size of France) is covered by the Sahara and is populated by the Tuaregs (a nomadic people who live in Mali, Algeria, Libya, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger). Seen as light-skinned (though they are called the ‘blue people’), they’ve complained of marginalization in their respective countries of residence. As such, the Tuaregs have fought several rebellious wars against the government of Niger, Algeria and Mali.

Despite the separatist intrigues of the Tuaregs in the Sahara, their rebellions have been quelled by force and negotiations over the years by the respective governments they rebelled against. However, a statement made by the foreign minister of Niger at the recent Bamako summit in October 2012 hosted to resolve the Malian crises shows that all is not well with Mali, especially the city that hosts the tomb of 333 saints (Timbuktu)! Even her neighbours are alarmed by this dawning, gruelling fact.

The rebel-held Azawad or Northern Mali is already at a phase of derelict lawlessness, and there are fears that it may become Africa’s Afghanistan or Pakistan’s Swat valley…hence the name ‘Azawadstan’!

Among the issues calling for action in Northern Mali are:

      The clash between Tuareg separatist rebels  (MNLA) and Islamist militants. Though having variant ideologies, these groups united to kick out the Malian army from Azawad.

      The destruction of ‘mausoleums’ and tombs of Islamic scholars in Timbuktu—is regarded as a world heritage site by the UN.

      The unhindered operation of Islamic militant groups, especially (Al Queda in the Islamic Maghreb) who are turning Northern Mali into a base or training facility for launching attacks in neighbouring states.

      Most concerned is the Nigerien government, which fears that the Malian instability might just precipitate in their country and serve as a distillery for instability in the West African Subregion.

      The recent capture of Diabaly and the attack on Konna by the Islamist militants thus putting Bamako (the Malian capital) and the remaining government-controlled areas at risk of being united under one ‘Azawadstan.’

Intriguingly, the Malian crises do have some foreign undertones. It is believed to be heightened by the influx of Tuareg fighters from Libya who fought on the side of the defeated Gaddafi loyalist forces during the 2011 Libyan revolution. Surely, the Libyan conflict did not end cheaply. The proliferation of weapons during the conflict must have added to the lethal force of the Tuareg and Islamic separatist forces.

With hard lessons still being learnt from the Pakistani and Afghanistan situation, there’s a concern that the Malian case will not fall in that line.

There have been calls for an Ecowas military intervention force to liberate Northern Mali as any attempt to allow for an ‘Azawadstan’ may spark Tuareg separatist conflicts in other neighbouring countries and most the most chilling terrorist attacks in the West African subregion and even Europe!. Bearing in mind that Al-Queda-linked groups hold sway in the territory, there’s an onus to restore sanity to the rebellious territory.

The Malian North, which is a vast expanse of Sahara, may not be familiar territory for any Ecowas intervention force. Moreover, there will be a need for logistical air support from Western powers—a cause that France is spearheading. With the Islamist militants now pushing towards Bamako, the French President has acceded to demands by the Malian Prime minister for help in the face of the ignominious defeat suffered by the Malian army in the hands of the rebels. The swift response of the French has thus encouraged a mobilization of West African forces to counter the activities of the Malian Islamists.

With the international scene wary of foreign intervention in crises-ridden countries, whilst contention cannot be agreed on Syria, the world cannot afford to watch a helpless and hapless Malian regime turn into Azawadstan!