Terrorism Lived In Nigeria By Boko Haram

Terrorism lived in Nigeria by Boko Haram

Introduction

The "Islamic State in West Africa", better known as Boko Haram, is the name of an insurgent group of an active Islamic fundamentalist nature in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Malí. One of its declared objectives is the establishment of the Sharia or Islamic Law as a norm in force in all the states of Nigeria, and not only in the northern part of the country where it is accepted by sectors of the population, who consider it as a code ofinformal justice. In turn, Sharia is widely rejected by those who live in the south of the country where they are mostly Christians and oppose their imposition.

Developing

With a population of 175 million, Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa and is considered a political and economic power in the continent. Because of this, it is important to pay attention to what happens in this country, taking into account the evidence of what happened in Mali, given that any unresolved local insurgency has the potential to become a worldwide problem. In Nigeria, when the Army and the State cannot – or do not want to deal with the problem, the civilian population is forced to form militias of volunteers. These groups of individuals in arms called "paramilitaries" as the "Joint Civil Operation Force", a civil organization that helps the State in its fight against terrorism.

They operate mainly in the northern states of Nigeria where Boko Haram has a greater presence.

But it is worth asking why?, Although the northern population hates violence, there is a good amount of sympathy and support of the locals towards the Sharia law, seen by many as the only way to end what is widely considered as a corrupt and inept government. Poverty prevails in the northern region and while the military struggle to stop Boko Haram’s attacks, the militant group is winning what is perhaps their most important battle: make Nigerians question the government’s competence. 

In addition, rights defenders and NGOs have accused local authorities of violating human rights in the fight against the group, which adds to the anti -government feeling. According to a report made by Amnesty International, Boko Haram made at least 65 attacks that caused death to 411 civilians and kidnapped at least 73 people. On the other hand, several NGOs report that the act of the Government has not been adequate, since arbitrary arrests and seclusions are reported. The Armed Forces arrested and illegitimately held – without charges – hundreds of women, in some cases because they were believed to be relatives of Boko Haram members. 

Among them there were women and girls who claimed to be victims of Boko Haram. Women denounced inhuman imprisonment conditions such as, for example, lack of health care for those who gave birth to cells. Precisely, the most visible face of Boko Haram’s atrocities in Nigeria are the hundreds of girls turned into weapons of war: kidnapped, raped, massacred, mutilated and even forgotten by the State. On the other hand, according to ACNUR, Boko Haram’s insurgency has already extended to Niger, affecting the DIFFA region since 2015. This region currently houses almost 250.000 displaced people.

A figure that includes both Nigeria refugees and Citizens of Niger in a situation of displacement within their own country. In addition, since the beginning of 2018, violence in the DIFFA region perpetrated by members of Boko Haram has climbed significantly, reaching a record of civil victims and secondary movements that have climbed the number of victims and violent acts against the civilian population. Given this context, it is possible to affirm that the action of Boko Haram is part of a terrorist modus operandi. According to Soraya Zuinaga, in most cases.

Terrorism is directly associated with objectives in some geographical areas of the planet clearly defined, but it is no less true, that no country is safe from some time an attack perpetrated by people dedicated to this activity, as is the case of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Mali. But, despite all these events that affect the peace, security and stability of states and their citizens, a consensual definition of the terrorist phenomenon has not yet been achieved. This is why, for the purposes of this work, various definitions will be used to frame Boko Haram’s actions. 

The first thing is that the phenomenon of terrorism as a form of violence cannot subscribe to a certain fact of the history of humanity, as Cabrera explains: it was the origin of wars, and this could be set about ten thousand years agoAnd it was not then that the sides in struggle discovered the effect of fear on the contrary, and the possibility of using that fear to win. In this sense, violence serves as an instrument or means of terrorism to influence a certain audience sowing fear, fear and terror, these elements that affect the direct psyche of the individual, become key factors for success at the time of acting of theTerrorists.

Boko Haram’s actions is understood as a strategy, one that seeks to infuse fear, thus, terrorism then becomes the action strategy that seeks to produce the rupture of the social order established by the generation and spread of terror creating in the choice in the choiceof its whites the feeling of extreme insecurity. Coercive intimidation turns out to be an unequivocal characteristic of terrorist groups. As Heinzen states, "murder is not prohibited in politics", that is, the use of violence as a strategy for the achievement of political objectives. For this reason.

The achievement of political objectives using the most violent end is "arguable" in the eyes of these terrorist groups, since, although the State means having the legitimate use of force for itself, the reality is that terrorist groups use a methodof repeated violent action, which questions that exclusivity of the State and suggests a new dialogue about how to address these groups today. Key point of this is precisely the lack of consensus of the definition of terrorism, since what really happens is that terrorist acts are condemned, but not terrorism.

One aspect to highlight is that unlike the murder, for terrorism the immediate objective of violence is not the final objective. These groups nourish the fear that they can cause in certain territories, so the victims are mostly civil chosen within the population, and are used as emitters of the terrorist message. According to the above, a key factor for terrorist groups is the mediation of the message, that is, the use of the media to publicize their message and act, same means that are used in double track to establish cellsIn other countries and make the work of ending terrorism more complicated.

conclusion

In conclusion, the definition that I have chosen to relate in this writing is the one presented by Rafael Cervera, precisely because it manages to relate Boko Haram with an academic context to give green light to the understanding of the same phenomenon of terrorism, this is: theTerrorism is a political relationship strategy based on the use of violence and threats of violence by an organized group, in order to induce a feeling of extreme terror or insecurity in a non -belligerent human community and thus facilitate the achievement of their demands.