Regional cooperation in the fight against Boko Haram
Newly elected President Buhari of Nigeria began making state visits to Chad and Niger on Wednesday, June 2 in order to discuss moving forward on the fight against Boko Haram. President Buhari has already landed in Niamey, the capital of Niger, although details on the specifics of their talk have not yet been released. Buhari is expected to travel to N’djamena, Chad before traveling home later today.
A year ago, Boko Haram made international news after kidnapping “nearly 300” secondary school girls in the village of Chibok. However, Boko Haram itself has plagued Nigeria for over six years. The United Nations refugee agency reported that about “1.5 million people have been displaced due to the violence and over 13,000 have been killed” at the hands of Boko Haram. This year Boko Haram decided to expand its activity to outside the Nigerian border.
Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was sworn in May 29, 2015. He replaced President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who was in office at the time of the 300 secondary school girls kidnapping. The former military dictator, who has a history of violence, was advised by the US administration during John Kerry’s visit in January that in exchange for a “peaceful election” the US will give Nigeria “cooperation.” Buhari had enlisted David Axelrod and his firm AKPD to do “political work on Buhari’s behalf” as recently as December 2014. Even with Goodluck Jonathan’s recent success in getting Russia and France’s support on the battle front, the APC and AKPD were able to paint Jonathan in a negative light, increasing Buhari’s chances of winning the election.
Buhari has promised repeatedly to win the fight against Boko Haram, putting him in good standing with his citizens. He has described Boko Haram “terrorists as cowardly murderers who target innocent people” and has “sworn to protect all Nigerians” labeling Boko Haram as his most immediate problem.
In recent fights against Boko Haram, Nigeria has received support from surrounding countries Niger, Chad and Cameroon on the battlefield. This combination has helped immensely in pushing back Boko Haram forces and destroying their camps.
Nigeria’s history with these countries differs substantially, as reported by the Political Science Department at the University of Ilorin in Nigeria. Nigeria has had a rocky relationship with Chad originating at the start of the Chadian civil war that lasted from 1978-1983. There were high security risks involving the Chadian armed forces infiltrating Nigerian land, leading to the border dispute of 1983. Since that time, Chad and Nigeria have remained fairly peaceful. Nigeria and Niger have maintained a “relatively warm” relationship and have never had any large disputes. Nigeria and Cameroon have had an ongoing struggle over the ownership of the Bakassi peninsula. This has caused a lot of mistrust and arguments between the two countries with both claiming ownership of the piece of land. Nigeria felt threatened by Cameroon specifically because of their well-equipped and highly trained army. Cameroon and Nigeria resolved the issue once the territory was transferred to Cameroon through the Nigerian Senate in 2009.
A summit in Paris was held shortly after the 300 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram in April of 2014. Those that attended included the leaders of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Benin along with representatives from France, the UK, the US and the EU. The summit was held to discuss the impending threat of Boko Haram and introduced a collective effort to fight against the terrorist group. It led to Operation Barkhane which is a continuation of French led counter-terrorism efforts in the Sahel which includes countries from the Lake Chad region.
Although Goodluck Jonathan did meet with leaders from his surrounding countries, including Chadian president Idris Deby to discuss the fight against Boko Haram, no real movement was seen from other regional countries at the time. One reason for this is that former president Jonathan was Christian, putting him in a weaker position to approach Boko Haram, a group that identifies itself as Islamic. The newly sworn in Buhari is Muslim, originating from the Muslim dominated northern region of Nigeria, and has even been approached by Boko Haram itself in 2012 as being one of the “six men it wanted to mediate talks.”
In the past, the United States has been reluctant in offering assistance to Nigeria. This past April, the United States sent $35 million to the surrounding states of Nigeria, but withheld from sending arms directly to the center of the fight and area that needs it most, Nigeria. The United States was also at the center of debate when it declined to approve Nigeria’s purchase of U.S. – made Cobra combat helicopters being sold by Israel. (The United States approval was required because the helicopters are manufactured in America).
The hesitancy of the United States in producing foreign aid to Nigeria directly stems from two criticisms of the country.
The first is the United States accusation of Nigeria’s poor treatment of human rights. However, former Nigerian Consul general to the United States responded, accusing the United States of supporting “countries with abysmal human rights records” multiple times in the past.
The second is the United State’s fear of Boko Haram gaining possession of the arms sent to the Nigerian military. Sarah Sewell, the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights said of Nigeria’s $5.8 billion security budget, “corruption prevents supplies as basic as bullets and transport vehicles from reaching the front lines of the struggle against Boko Haram.”
The future of Nigerian- US relations was cast in a positive light when Joe Biden said in his congratulatory phone call to the Axelrod backed and newly elected Nigerian President Buhari, “the United States is ready to expand collaboration with Nigeria on issues of common concern, including economic and security matters.”
Boko Haram has not slowed down its frequency of attacks, making the cooperation of surrounding countries crucial. Maiduguri, Nigeria’ s northeastern city, was taken by Boko Haram in January and is the location of many terrorist attacks such as the blast that occurred over the weekend and other recent attacks. However, Maiduguri has been taken back from Boko Haram. Buhari announced the plan of using Maiduguri as a military headquarters as his first decision as president, referring to it as the terrorist group’s “stronghold.”
