Boko Haram

Background

Main articles: Islam in Nigeria and Colonial Nigeria

Before colonisation and subsequent annexation into the British Empire, the Bornu Empire ruled the territory where Boko Haram is currently active. It was a sovereign sultanate run according to the principles of the Constitution of Medina, with a majority Kanuri Muslim population. The Bornu Sultanate emerged after the overthrow of the Kanem-Bornu Empire ruled by the Saifawa dynasty for over 2000 years. The Bornu Sultanate of the Kanuri is distinct from the Sokoto Caliphate of the Hausa/Fulani established in 1802 by the military conquest of Usman dan Fodio.
Both the Bornu Sultanate and Sokoto Caliphate came under control of the British in 1903. However, due to activities of early Christian missionaries who used Western education as a tool for evangelism, it is viewed with suspicion by the local population. Increased dissatisfaction gave rise to many fundamentalists among the Kanuri and other peoples of northeast Nigeria.

One of the most famous such fundamentalists was Mohammed Marwa, also known as Maitatsine, who was at the height of his notoriety during the 1970s and 1980s. He was sent into exile by the British authorities, he refused to believe Mohammed was the Prophet and instigated riots in the country which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. Some analysts view Boko Haram as an extension of the Maitatsine riots.

Origin

The group was founded by a self-proclaimed Nigerian spiritual leader Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri with the aim of establishing a Shari'a government in Borno State under former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff. He established a religious complex that included a mosque and a school where many poor families from across Nigeria and from neighboring countries enrolled their children.

The centre had ulterior political goals and soon it was also working as a recruiting ground for future jihadis to fight the state. The group includes members who come from neighbouring Chad and Niger and speak only Arabic.

In 2004 the complex was relocated to Yusuf's home state of Yobe in the village Kanamma near the Niger border.

The beginning of violence

Timeline of incidents

7 September 2010 Bauchi prison break
31 December 2010 December 2010 Abuja attack
22 April 2011 Boko Haram frees 14 prisoners during a jailbreak in Yola, Adamawa State
29 May 2011 May 2011 northern Nigeria bombings
16 June 2011 The group claims responsibility for the 2011 Abuja police headquarters bombing
26 June 2011 Bombing attack on a beer garden in Maiduguri
10 July 2011 Bombing at the All Christian Fellowship Church in Suleja, Niger State
11 July 2011 The University of Maiduguri temperory closes down its campus citing security concerns
12 August 2011 Prominent Muslim Cleric Liman Bana is shot dead by Boko Haram
26 August 2011 2011 Abuja bombing
4 November 2011 2011 Damaturu attacks
25 December 2011 December 2011 Nigeria bombings
5–6 January 2012 January 2012 Nigeria attack
20 January 2012 January 2012 Kano bombings
28 January 2012 Nigerian army says it killed 11 Boko Haram insurgents
8 February 2012 Boko Haram claims responsibility for a suicide bombing at the army headquarters in Kaduna.
16 February 2012 Another prison break staged in central Nigeria; 119 prisoners are released, one warder killed.

The group conducted its operations more or less peacefully during the first seven years of its existence That changed in 2009 when the Nigerian government launched an investigation into the group's activities following reports that its members were arming themselves. Prior to that the government reportedly repeatedly ignored warnings about the increasingly militant character of the organisation, including that of a military officer.

When the government came into action, several members of the group were arrested in Bauchi, sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people. During the fighting with the security forces Boko Haram "fighters reportedly "used fuel-laden motorcycles" and "bows with poison arrows" to attack a police station. The group's founder and then leader Mohammed Yusuf was also killed during this time while still in police custody.
After Yusuf's killing, a new leader emerged whose identity was not known at the time.

Reemergence

After the killing of M. Yusuf, the group carried out its first terrorist attack in Borno in January 2010. It resulted in the killing of four people. Since then, the violence has only escalated in terms of both frequency and intensity.

In January 2012, Abubakar Shekau, a former deputy to Yusuf, appeared in a video posted on YouTube. According to Reuters, Shekau took control of the group after Yusuf's death in 2009. Authorities had previously believed that Shekau died during the violence in 2009.

By early 2012, the group was responsible for over 900 deaths.

Assessment

Boko Haram is considered to be a major potential terrorist threat affecting Nigeria and other countries, and US officials believe it is potentially allied with Al Qaeda. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Commander General Carter F. Ham stated in September 2011 that three African terrorist groups - Shabab of Somalia, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb across the Sahel region, and Boko Haram - "have very explicitly and publicly voiced an intent to target Westerners, and the U.S. specifically" and that he was concerned with "the voiced intent of the three organizations to more closely collaborate and synchronize their efforts."

General Ham reiterated his concern after the Christmas Day 2011 bombings of churches in Nigeria: "I remain greatly concerned about their stated intent to connect with Al Qaeda senior leadership, most likely through Al Qaeda in the lands of the Islamic Maghreb.”

The US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence urged the Obama Administration and U.S. intelligence community in November 2011 to focus on Boko Haram as a potential threat to United States territory.

Nigeria's National Security Adviser, General Owoye Andrew Azazi, has been working with other African governments, European and Middle Eastern governments, and the U.S. government to build cooperation against Boko Haram. He met in 2010 with then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, and in 2011 with AFRICOM Commander General Ham, and other U.S. officials, and was in the United States when the congressional panel was preparing its report on Boko Haram. He participated in a CIA conference at about the same time. After the Christmas 2011 bombings carried out by Boko Haram, President Barack Obama's office issued a statement that confirmed that the U.S. and Nigeria were cooperating at a senior level against the terrorist group.