by Anna Mahjar-Barducci
January 11, 2012 at 4:30 am
January 11, 2012 at 4:30 am
The Christian community in Nigeria was again the target of terrorist attacks planned by the Islamist group, Boko Haram.. A spokesperson for the Islamist group also issued an ultimatum to Christians to leave the North of Nigeria, dominated by Muslims, or otherwise be killed. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan already declared a state of emergency, whereas the Nigerian Ministry of Information stated that all Nigerians should unite to confront the "evil" of Boko Haram.
Nigerian authorities agree on saying that Boko Haram has a clear strategy, a well defined leadership and an increasing hoard of funds and technical support thanks to its recently established links with Al-Qaeda. Further, so far, any attempt of the Nigerian security forces to track down the leadership of Boko Haram has also been frustrated over easiness about crossing the borders it has with it neighbors, Niger, Chad and Cameroon where, allegedly, Boko Haram has training camps.
International analyst on Nigeria, Jean-Christophe Servant, points out that Boko Haram is composed of several elements of the Nigerian society. Among the militants are apparently not only Islamists, but desperate young people earning less than two dollars a month and who have no hope for the future; criminals who want to destabilize the central government, and dismissed personnel from the Nigerian army. According to Servant, the presence of Nigerian former soldiers would explain Boko Haram's use of sophisticated weaponry and explosives. Servant also states, however, that the Nigerian intelligence does not have any clear information about the leadership of the group or on its power structure. Read the rest on:
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