Boko Haram whose name translates to “western learning is forbidden” is a group created in 2002 by former leader Mohammed Yusuf; an African Islamic militant group located in the northern part of Nigeria who felt left out religiously due to Christian recognition. They initially targeted government establishments such as police stations, military housing and security officers to targeting civilians, public schools, churches, bus stations, bus stops and mosques. By these acts their aim is to establish a state of Islam using sharia criminal law in the northern region of Nigeria.
In July of 2009 group leader Mohammed Yusuf was captured by Nigerian police and processed for interrogation; two hours later Mohammed was found shot to death in the street. Since his killing Boko Haram’s factions considered Mohammed their inspiration and waged a four-day massacre resulting in the death of over a thousand people. Shortly thereafter Boko Haram disappeared only to return a year later with more weapons, ammunition, bodies and a new leader whose name is Abubakar Shekau. The new leader proclaimed an all-out-war on the Nigerian government.
The African state is continually being terrorized by this group through bombings, mass kidnappings, killings, and stopping the import of food in which creates a humanitarian crisis for up to 8 million Nigerians and the terrorization of schools and villages. With a population of 140 million people, 350 ethnic groups and 500 native languages, and being rich in natural gas and oil, Nigeria seeks to present itself as the image of modern Africa. Although Nigeria collects billions of dollars selling its oil each year a majority of Nigerians live in poverty with many living on less than $1.90 a day. In the northeast the poverty rate is even higher among the most cut-off regions and in the rural and Muslim northeast that line is extremely fragile. The reason for that being the north and the south are split between religious, cultural and economic differences due to the lack of a well-established Nigerian government; political correction and economic disparity have brought drowned out security to the people.
Since 2009, Boko Haram has been named the most violent and deadliest terrorist organization in the world. The name has stemmed from the countless acts of violence which in upwards of over 68 mass crimes have been made towards making Nigeria an Islamic state. In the last 8 years there have been 37,500 deaths, over 2.4 million Nigerians have been forced out of their homes by the Violent Extremist Organization (VEO) in the north east Borno State and the number of refugees are up to 228,000. However, in 2015 the Nigerian government proclaimed a complete win over Boko Haram with no supporting evidence, although, currently the Nigerian government continues to suppress the violence with heavy strikes.
The daunting attacks on the Nigerian government by Boko Haram has led the state to reconsider their military strategies. The state has tried numerous attempts at addressing any weakness’s they might encounter. The government’s military has restructured their command by rotating generals on different occasions to strengthen their offense while attempting to severe the head of a giant snake. These trial strategies have continued the exposing weakness of the Nigerian government and has strengthened the Boko Haram regime. The government officials of Nigeria are continuing their efforts at approaching this conflict from a creative view; however, they must determine the root causes of their weakness’s. There are two main concerns the Nigerian government is looking to address, making proper use of their intelligence by having a strategy to communicate with local communities and attending to the grievances of the soldiers to help boost their morale to continue their efforts in the suppression of Boko Haram.
Amnesty option – This strategy was brought to existence due to a failed military intervention that was to bring the region some sort of normalcy. The military’s strategies have encompassed examples such as torturing, rape, extorsion, imprisonment, arrest, mistreatment of human rights, plundering, brutality, aggravation and devastation of lives and property. The amnesty option came to light from a 45-person committee on the Niger Delta implemented by a former Federal Republic of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The committee constructed a report recommending amnesty to the militants and enforcing a comprehensive structure of reintegration, rehabilitation, demobilization and disbarment program. Militants who surrendered, meaning that they are severing themselves from the militant group, were to fully disarm by turning in weapons, ammunition or any harmful effects while providing any useful information on the group. These militants would be pardoned by the President and given full freedom. After the implementation of this option the disarmament delivered 2,700 guns, up to 300,000 rounds of ammunition surrendered by 15,000 militants. The option was structured to confiscate anything that could produce harmful effects and to sever ties with the militant group. However, the implementation of the amnesty option did not rectify the situation due to the inability to recognize and restructure long term programs.
The United States opened their eyes to the Boko Haram insurgency in 2012 which prompted the creation of executive orders to designate the group Violent Extremist Organization (VEO) in assistance. The high number of kidnappings of school children in 2014 prompted the U.S. to take a deeper look into the Violent Extremist Organization and provided aid to the Nigerian government by sending military personnel, experts in humanitarian services, civil support law enforcement, hostage negotiation, communication and intelligence. The U.S. also expanded their assistance to providing strategic Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) to better locate the kidnapped girls.
The United States along with other power allies, Russia, China, Pakistan, France, United Kingdom and Brazil, are aiding in the fight to help the Nigerian government in their suppression of Boko Haram. The United States however is taking a much larger approach to implementing a conflict management plan in the north east Borno State due to the United State’s financial interests. The United States’ strategy is to help expand the sales of international military arsenal, provide the weakened Nigerian government with flight education and training, encouraging disarmament, and implementing reintegration efforts. The Nigerian government will purchase military arsenal from nearly anybody who is selling, so far they have made progress in securing the purchasing of major military apparatus from the United States (12 EMB 314 Super Tucano aircrafts) along with Russia (12 SU 30 fighter jets), Brazil (3 EMB 314 Super Tucano aircrafts) and Pakistan (3 JF 17 thunder fighter jets). The role of the U.S. is to only provide support behind the scenes but will restrain the possibility of engagement in a direct military attack.
The United States expanded support due to the unsettling exponential increase of internet usage in Nigeria leading to a government who posses massive cyber security issues. A specialized military group will train the government in cyber security awareness and help bolster a new cyber security task force to attack from a non-lethal stand point.
The U.S. is providing a great majority of essential nutrients the Nigerian government will need to exercise a continued victory over Boko Haram. However, the interest of the United States is to protect their financial ties during the continued support. Their strategy is to reveal the root causes of conflict. From the two aforementioned plans proposed and implemented; the plan integrated from the United States is the plan holding the possibility of capturing the goal of a negotiated settlement leading to peace.
In the phases below is a conflict management plan I will integrate into the foreseeing peace in the north eastern Borno state. This plan is named “operation kill switch,” and the goal of this strategy is to implement the resolution ideas in successful phases.
Phase I, I would assemble a counsel of experts from the Nigerian government, diplomatic representatives of allies, peacekeeping officials, humanitarian experts and the United Nations. We would discuss the regional terroristic crisis and formulate a timeline of a proposed plan. During that time the team will exam multi directional approaches to executing peace with the Boko Haram regime. For example; restructuring the weakened Nigerian government, implementing public programs such as education, health care, rehabilitation and the establishment of job opportunity.
In phase II the council of experts will focus solely on dismantling the Boko Haram regime by creating a program to incentivize disarmament (Confiscation of their weapons, ammunition, harmful effects, and further information on the regime), demobilization and reintegration. Our best interest is to keep the Boko Haram extremist from a relapse. Insurgents who voluntarily sever ties with the group will be given a single chance at amnesty with conditional freedom. Insurgents will be required to undergo the aforementioned programs per request and approval by the council. If the extremist deviate from their program they will lose their right to complete amnesty.
The objective of phase III will be to reintegrate the reformed citizens in a long term educational program. Much energy needs to be spent on providing the support required to maintain an upright life in civil society. These individuals will undergo immense continued education and training in social interaction, communal volunteering, job opportunities and learning acceptable public behavior.
Phase IV, the newly reformed citizens will be reintroduced into modern society to make sure they are in compliance of the educational training from phase III. Housing and job accommodations will be provided to the individuals on behalf of the government however, if those individuals deviate from the circumstances provided. Their opportunity for amnesty could be stripped provided that each situation will be determined on a case by case basis.
After implementing the program for 24 months; the council will meet again to evaluate its progress. If needed the council’s strategy can be restructured to improve the success of the program. Re-evaluations can be taken place annually or on a as needed basis. Until there is a high percentage of achievement or if needed negotiations will need to take place with the militant group.
The continued violence in the Borno state lead by Boko Haram has been categorized as one of the leading terrorist organizations in the world with extremist looking to convert Nigeria to an Islamic state at the expense of a suffering country. The exposure of Boko Haram has lead to many proposed conflict resolutions however, some plans do not address the root cause of their insurgency. Amnesty revealed a small success but did not secure long term success of correcting the weakened government. The United States, in turn, was able to provide multiple successful avenues of expert training and equipment to the Nigerian government with more to be integrated in the year 2020. My conflict proposal, although similar to the United States’ continuously successful plan, implements minor tweaks at allowing Boko Haram to keep the region they occupy at the request of negotiations. I was able to apply the topics and concepts learning in class to formulate my plan.