Abstract

The emergence of Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist terrorist group that has been agitating for the introduction of strict Islamic laws and the Islamisation of Nigeria through violent activities such as killing, bombing, and suicide bombing has taken a transnational dimension Ayeotan (2012). It has more recently transformed into one of the fiercest terrorist organizations, whose violent activities have seriously affected the lives of people across Nigeria and its neighbouring countries. Also, the group has been described as a domestic terrorist group because of the initial scope of its atrocities mainly in Nigeria.

This work sought to investigate the factors that led to the transnationalization of terrorism in the Lake Chad basin with case study of the Boko Haram insurgency. Structured interviews were used to collect primary data for the study. The respondents were principally military and security personnel, civilians, and elites. Due to the broad nature of the scope and the high level of insecurity in the study area, the study made more use of secondary than primary data.

The study employed material collected from news channels, websites, published and unpublished thesis, books and articles. The results indicated that ignorance and deprivation and socio – cultural relations were the leading factors that have sustained and deepened the Boko Haram crisis. Accordingly, it is recommended that the governments of Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, and Niger should set up social centres in the affected areas that would promote socio-cultural interaction of the local people with people from other areas of the country.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1 Background to the Study

The emergence of Boko Haram, as an Islamic extremist terrorist group that has been agitating for the introduction of strict Islamic laws and the Islamisation of Nigeria through violent activities such as killing, bombing, and suicide bombing has taken a transnational dimension (Ayeotan 2012). It has more recently transformed into one of the fiercest terrorist organizations, whose violent activities have seriously affected the lives of people across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.

Transnational terrorism is diverse and multifaceted regarding scope and intensity. Dealing with it requires investment in international security and diplomacy. It also entails cooperation between domestic, regional and international actors in the areas of peace, security and development. The study examines the transnational characteristics of Boko Haram, its enigmatic character and why it has become difficult to clamp down the terrorist group.

Boko Haram attacks took a cross-border dimension when on July 27, 2014; over 200 militants stormed Kolofata, a town in the Extreme North region of Cameroon targeting the residence of the Vice Prime Minister, Amadou Ali. During that attack, the wife, and sister in law of the Vice Prime Minister, as well as the Mayor and Seini Lamine, a senior religious leader, were kidnapped to an unknown destination. The night before, Boko Haram had carried out an attack on the Cameroon military in Extreme North region which resulted in the death of four Cameroonian soldiers and the kidnapping of thirteen (13) others. The abduction of the Cameroonian soldiers marked the Spread of Boko Haram attacks into Cameroon. Additionally, two sons of Bieshair Mohaman, a Cameroonian traditional leader in Limani were also kidnapped on July 15, 2014. In Northern Nigeria, authorities traced some of the explosives used in the attacks to a quarry in Northern Cameroon that was raided by Boko Haram in May 2014.

Much earlier in December 2013, Nigerien authorities foiled a plot to kidnap the central government representative, the local governor, and the military zone commander in Diffa. More recently, Boko Haram members in Diffa ambushed an army patrol and escaped to the Nigerian side of the border. Following this event, three Boko Haram members were captured and the next day, nine more were arrested in connection to the attack.

In Chad, border security was expanded on August 6, 2014, when Boko Haram militants crossed into the country and gunned down six Nigerians in Dubuwa village. The Nigerians had fled an earlier attack on Kirenowa, a Nigerian town close to the Cameroonian border. In a more brazen attempt to enter Chadian territory, on August 16, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 97 people including boys and several women from the Doron Baga fishing village in Nigeria near Lake Chad.

Walker (2012) notes that the transnational characteristics of Boko Haram operations are facilitated by some factors, including the following:

1)         Firstly, the borders of the affected countries are long and porous, with little security, immigration or control checkpoints. The vast “ungoverned spaces” allow Boko Haram and other criminal gang’s easy passage into the various countries and ready space to create safe heavens where attacks and training of new members are carried out. Nigeria shares a soft border of 2,000 miles with Niger, Chad, and Cameroon and has almost 1,500 illegal or unmonitored crossing routes.

2)         Secondly, the concerned countries lack the required expertise to combat terrorism and insurgency, particularly because the warfare is non-conventional. Except the Chadian military that has engaged terrorist groups from Mali and North Africa, the army of the other countries are poorly trained for the asymmetric warfare waged by Boko Haram.

3)         Thirdly, the slow and weak response of Nigeria to initial attacks by Boko Haram and the absence of an early regional counter-terrorism initiative allowed the terrorist crises of the region to grow out of proportion. Even after a Multilateral cooperation effort was launched in Paris in May 2014 at the Paris Summit for Security where Nigeria and its neighbors agreed to cooperate on security issues, all the parties involved have failed to set clear guidelines for multilateral cooperation to address cross-border vulnerabilities.

4)         Fourthly, the areas targeted by Boko Haram in the different countries share ethnic/cultural, religious and linguistic links. The affinities (particularly the Kanuri, Hausa, and Shuwa Arab ties) transcend national boundaries facilitating cross-border movement and making policing in the area tough. It’s hard to determine the actual nationalities of people in the area, and Boko Haram takes advantage of the situation to mix terrorism with the informal cross-border commerce.

5)         Fifthly, Coker (2002) notes that globalization has changed the scope, intensity and nature of terrorism in the post-Cold War era. He opines that since 1990, terrorist groups have grown in number, sophistry, scope, ruthlessness, and geographical spread of operation. More so, contemporary terrorism has deviated from the traditional choice of targeting military establishments and governments to targeting vulnerable civilian population.

Furthermore, it is increasingly argued that globalization encourages religious fundamentalism, wars of identity and the fragmentation of states. Cooker and David (2012) observe that forty (40) years ago, there existed no religious terrorist movement worldwide. In the 1980’s only two (2) of sixty-four (64) known terrorist organizations in the world were animated by religious fundamentalism. By the 1990s, Al Qaeda led by Osama Bin Laden became the leading global terror group. Terrorism became a global security challenge. To understand the character and transformation of terrorism into a transnational threat or cross-border conflict of large security concern, and particularly the transnational nature of Boko Haram’s activities, it is important to look at other transnational terrorist groups and their activities.

1.2.1 ISIS

According to Boas (2012), ISIS means Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The ideological goal of ISIS is to cement its name: “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” and objective in peoples’ minds and create a large-scale theocracy made up of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. Boas also opines that ISIS has taken advantage of the conflict in Iraq where the political vacuum after the demise of the former president Saddam Hussein has led to a power struggle and military conflict between the Sunni minority and the Shiite majority.

1.1.2    Al-Shabaab

The name Al-Shabaab means “the youth.” The group is battling for a theocracy in the Horn of Africa, but radical Islamist ideology recognizes no national frontiers. They have carried out attacks beyond East Africa – as well as in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, where more than 60 people were murdered in an armed attack on a shopping center in September 2013. Al-Shabaab dominates large parts of central and southern Somalia and maintains close links with Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram (Daily Trust April 19, 2012).

 

1.1.3    Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is regarded as the parent organization of global jihad. Its name means “base” or “foundation.” Al-Qaeda was the brain behind the attacks on New York on September 11, 2001. Their aim is to establish a theocracy which includes all Islamic countries and territories. Today, Al-Qaeda is a loose network of largely independent cells that are active in many countries. Amidst them is Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates mainly in Algeria and northern Mali, and Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a jihadist stronghold (Falola, 2012).

1.1.4    Boko Haram

Boko Haram is currently the fastest growing terrorist group that is quite active in the North Eastern part of Nigeria. Boko Haram is committed to the introduction of Sharia law across the country. The group attracted a significant amount of media attention when the Chibok girls were kidnapped in April 2014. Since 2003, thousands of people have been killed in attacks on security forces, government agencies, churches and schools (Campbell, 2014).

Poverty and deprivation are other key strengthening features of Boko Haram, and dealing effectively with it requires an empowerment strategy that focuses on illiteracy and poverty eradication. The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (2012) notes that 70 percent of the population in North-East Nigeria (Boko Haram’s traditional stronghold), live on less than a dollar a day, compared to 50 percent in the South-West and 59 percent in the South-East. Similarly, female literacy rates range from 23 percent in the North-East to more than 79 percent in the South (National Population Commission and ICP Marco, 2009). By this measure, the socioeconomic inequalities thus add to the already charged ethnic, religious and regional tensions. As Bøås (2012) aptly puts it, the disparity between the north and the south of Nigeria has alienated many inhabitants of the north and render them more vulnerable to supporting and joining Boko Haram.

In their study titled ‘Terrorism in West Africa: Boko Haram’s Evolution, Strategy and Affiliations,’ Minteh and Perry (2013) have identified diverse sources of funding to terrorist groups and organization that include black market sales of crude from oil fields as well as systematic extortion that involves kidnapping for ransom. It is estimated that the group has about 10,000 fighters in its ranks drawn from across the world where euphoria of jihadist tendencies and international warrior culture has gripped Muslim youths of both sexes.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

The violent tactics employed by Boko Haram and selection of targets to strike have attracted international attention due to its growing lethality, a scale of violence and its transnational ramifications. Its activities and the effects of its operations go beyond the traditional combat  zone which is Nigeria (Walker, 2012).

In its resolve to assert its ideology and territorial ambitions, Boko Haram exploits the ungoverned spaces along the borders of neighboring countries like Chad, Niger, Benin, and Cameroon. There are more than 1000 border entry routes from these four countries which are unmanned and uncontrolled (Udeh, 2011).

The porous  nature of these boundaries heightens the potential for transnational transactions such as the recycling of small arms and light weapons, mercenaries, training and funding, acquisition of strategic resources and recruitment of militarized refugees and foreign fighters. The  Boko Haram sect has launched attacks on Niger, Cameroon, and Chad. Cameroon has been hitherto identified as the critical zone for cross-border attacks which intensified at a time of increasing counter-activities in May 2014 between Nigerian forces and suspected Boko Haram insurgents, with at least a dozen Boko Haram militants arrested. On May 5th, 2014, three members of Boko Haram were arrested in Niger after they attacked an army patrol in the eastern region of Diffa. The cross-border atrocities of Boko Haram and the following slow multilateral or regional response to the threat have propelled the insurgency into a transnational scale.

The cross-border dimension and manifestation of Boko Haram pose a severe security challenge for Nigeria’s neighbors and the region at large. In February 2013, the sect conducted its first attack outside Nigeria when it kidnapped a French family in Northern Cameroon near the border with Nigeria (Bey and Tack, 2013). According to the UNHCR report of (2012), over 600,000 Nigerians have sought refuge in neighboring countries since May 2013. There are about 40,000 Nigerian refugees in the Niger Republic with about 28,000 in Cameroon with the majority coming from bordering communities. Many of these refugees fled without any food or water intensifying the strain on scarce resources and social services of the host communities.

Furthermore, the negative economic situation has added to the diplomatic unease in Cameroon- Nigeria relations. Nigerian authorities have criticized Cameroon for not doing enough to secure its borders, noting that Boko Haram has been using Cameroonian territory as a transit route for weapons and as a base to launch attacks in North Eastern Nigeria (Checkel, 2010).

 

Moreover, cross-border abductions by Boko Haram have scared off potential tourists in the Far North Region of Cameroon, leading to a sharp drop in customs revenue in Cameroon. The violence has severely affected the economies of the region and the general wellbeing of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin amongst other countries which are linked to the Nigerian economy (Collier, 2007).

Transnational terrorism poses a major problem because it expands the reach of violent extremism and complicates the efforts of an effective response, in a region where regional cooperation is limited by mistrust, limited strategic capacity, and governance related challenges. The delay in creating a Multinational Joint Task Force and some restrictions by the Nigerian government to neighboring countries like Cameroon, limiting its response only to particular areas of the border constitutes a big challenge for an effective response to the threat and its potential for territorial expansion. It took the intervention of France during the Paris summit, to bring all the neighboring West African countries together to understand that Boko Haram could not be adequately dealt with through single country solutions. The French government called the leaders of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroun together in Paris on May 17, 2014, urging the need for strengthened cooperation between member states of the Lack Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and the Benin Republic.

Boko Haram aims at establishing an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria, which may extend to ungoverned spaces around border countries where this sect has gained some grounds in positioning itself. Boko Haram had gained control of 14 of the 776 local government areas in Northern Nigeria (Walker, 2012). Already, a Multilateral Force involving soldiers from the affected countries has been constituted, and the United States has sent 300 huge contingents along with surveillance drones, to Cameroon to boost up the counter-terrorism effort of the Multilateral Force (Aljazeera, 14 Oct 2015 22:44). The UN is also making efforts to support the regional cooperation of members of the Lake Chad Basin region and Benin.

So far, much success has been registered; the Nigerian military operations have led to the liberation of many communities that were held hostage by the Boko Haram insurgents.

The newly elected Nigerian government under the leadership of President Buhari has demonstrated more resolve in employing a regional approach in arresting the threat. The recently deployed US troops to Cameroon has maintained relative peace since their arrival and will together with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) liberate the Lake Chad Basin region from the grip of Boko Haram. Despite these significant successes achieved, much still needs to be done as Boko Haram still holds territories and if not deterred, its activities may spread to nearby fragile states like Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, and the Central African Republic.

Cross-border attacks and different external factors that feed and sustain the Boko Haram sect reveal how an initially Nigerian based insurgency is becoming a source of insecurity in neighboring countries. It is in this regard that research on the trans nationalization of Boko Haram is germane. The need to contain the transnational reach of Boko Haram is, therefore, real and warrants a comprehensive regional and international response. This is more so because Boko Haram is waging an asymmetric war with serious adverse security implications in a region which reveals symptoms of inefficient border management strategies and effective democratic governance.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The principal purpose of this study is to examine the factors that have led to the transnationalization of terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin region, especially with the Boko Haram insurgency. The specific objectives are:

1. To analyze the extent to which socio – cultural factors of the peoples of the Lake Chad Basin region promote the spread of Boko Haram in the area.
2. To examine the level of cooperation among the affected countries and its impact on the counter-terrorism effort.
3. To review how the vast ungoverned areas linking the Lake Chad area to the Sahel region has contributed to the growth of Boko Haram.
4. To evaluate how the high level of illiteracy and poverty of people in the area have supported local acceptability and the recruitment strategy of Boko Haram.

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