Nigeria: extremists are still on the rise

In Nigeria, the Boko Haram terrorists are still on the rise. On Friday, 150 days after the extremists abduction hundreds of schoolgirls, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the Nigerian government and the security forces of failing to protect the civilian population from the terror of the radical Islamist sect. "To this day, there is no sign of life from the 219 schoolgirls who were kidnapped in Chibok", reported the STP's Africa-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Friday. Although Nigeria's police, army and government had repeatedly and boastfully announced that the schoolgirls were to be set free soon, nothing has happened. "The tragic fate of the Chibok-schoolgirls is characteristic for the situation of the entire civilian population. Northern Nigeria is facing growing problems, similar to the problems in northern Iraq."

Since Boko Haram is constantly becoming better armed, the movement is able to confront and push back the Nigerian army. Nowadays, the fighters of the sect are not only making use of cross-country vehicles, but – just as any conventional army – have armored infantry fighting vehicles and battle tanks as well as heavy weapons. Thus, since July 2014, the terrorist group was able to capture seven cities in the federal state of Borno alone. The sect has approached the metropolis of Maiduguri – where hundreds of thousands of refugees from northern Nigeria have sought refuge – as close as 70 kilometers. Since January 2014, at least 650,000 people have fled from the terror of Boko Haram, according to estimates of the United Nations. Other evaluations assume that there are up to 3.3 million new refugees.

Nigeria's government and army are trying to spread confidence and regularly announce that they are about to defeat Boko Haram. "However, the truth looks quite different. The terrorist group is stronger than ever, making Nigeria's government and armed forces look like fools by revealing their incapability. Instead of cooperating and trying to find solutions in the fight against the terrorist group and providing more effective protection for the civilian population, Nigeria's politicians tend to instrumentalize the terrorist attacks for their own political purposes and to position themselves for the upcoming presidential elections in February 2015," Delius criticized. He also warned: "If Nigeria's politics fail to find a credible answer on how to handle Boko Haram, the terrorist group could end up to be an acute threat to the existence of the most important state of West Africa."

Ulrich Delius, head of the STP's Africa department, is available for further questions: +49 551 49906 27 or afrika@gfbv.de.

Header Photo: Michael Fleshman/Flickr