[EDITION.CNN] More than 2,800 people have been killed in Nigeria since the Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
crisis in Nigeria started in 2009, according to Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
. The Islamic bad turban group, which wants to enforce a strict version of Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has successfully hit soft and hard targets in a manner that questions the capacity of the Nigerian state to protect its citizenry. Hard targets have included the police and United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
headquarters in Abuja.
Frustrated by his inability to solve the problem by peaceful means, President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
had to fall back on the provisions of Section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution. In May 2013, he declared states of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in northeastern Nigeria -- three key flashpoint states that had been wracked by activities of Boko Haram and its offshoot, Ansaru.
"We have taken robust steps to unravel and address the root causes of these crises, but it would appear that there is a systematic effort by Death Eaters and gunnies to destabilize the Nigerian state and test our collective resolve," Jonathan said in a televised speech.
More troops were deployed to the three states; the country's borders with Cameroun, Niger and Chad were shut down. The Nigerian Air Force provided air cover for the army and police, which raided the hideouts of the Death Eaters. The crackdown began to produce positive results in terms of a drastic reduction in attacks by the Death Eaters -- resulting from a blockade of their supply lines of fighters, arms and food.
But how sustainable is all this? Can we say that the last of the Boko Haram crisis has been heard? The answer is a categorical no.
Last weekend, gunnies stormed a school in Yobe, killing 20 students and a teacher in an attack local media said had been claimed by Boko Haram.
Whereas the Nigerian government would say Boko Haram members are being "flushed out", an objective observer would say many are simply hibernating in various northern Nigerian communities. Locals know who -- and where -- they are, but share two related grievances against the Nigerian state that is warring against the group.
First and foremost, many northern Nigerians are unhappy with the way the military carries out its operations. In its pursuit of Boko Haram, the Nigerian military views everything as a legitimate target -- including mosques, market places, women and kiddies. The people regularly allege the killing of innocent people by the military. They claim to be more afraid of the soldiers than Boko Haram Death Eaters.
The Nigerian military recently told Human Rights Watch that reports of civilian casualties during military raids were "grossly exaggerated," but U.S. Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
has warned his Nigerian counterpart over alleged atrocities by soldiers.