Boko Haram demons. Boko Haram is a threat to all of West Africa Terrorist group Boko Haram

About the most brutal terrorist group in the world

The Nigerian terrorist organization Boko Haram ranked third in the “global terrorism index”, calculated by the number of attacks, the number of deaths and the level of material damage caused, according to the Institute of Economics and Peace, in 2015, after Iraq and Afghanistan. However, based on the number of people killed, it was recognized as the most brutal and bloody extremist group in the world.

In 2014, there were 6,644 lost souls on her account. According to this indicator, it even surpassed the Islamic State, whose victims then became 6,073 people. However, until the abduction of 276 girls in April 2014 from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria and the pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State in March 2015, the activities of this extremist organization did not receive adequate coverage in the world media.

Created in 2002 by the famous Islamic preacher Muhammad Yusuf in northern Nigeria in the city of Maiduguri in Borno State, from a small religious sect it has now grown into one of the most active terrorist groups in Africa. Its official name translated from Arabic is “Society of Adherents to the Dissemination of the Teachings of the Prophet and Jihad.” In the Hausa language, Boko Haram means “Western education is a sin.” The main goal of the group is the introduction of Sharia law throughout Nigeria, including where Christians live, the eradication of the Western way of life and the creation of an Islamic state.
The conflict between the adherents of this movement and the central government of the country, in addition to the ideological factor, is based primarily on socio-economic reasons, aggravated by chronic political instability and acute inter-tribal and regional contradictions. Although the average per capita income in Nigeria is about $2,700 per year, its population is one of the poorest in the world. Approximately 70% of Nigerians live on $1.25 a day. At the same time, 72% of the population lives in poverty in the northern states, 35% in the eastern states and 27% in the western states.

The bulk of Boko Haram supporters are students of religious educational institutions in the northern regions of the country, university students and office workers who are left without work, a huge contingent of unemployed rural youth, the urban lower classes, and religious fanatics.

Representatives of the Muslim elite of the northern states were also seen as sympathizing with Boko Haram. Ethnically, the backbone of the group consists of people from the Kanuri tribe, which accounts for 4% of the country's approximately 178 million population.

Having begun their terrorist activities in Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, the organization’s militants gradually began to spread it to other parts of the country, attacking Nigerian army posts and police stations. However, despite warnings from the governor of Plateau State, retired General Y. Jang, about the threat of the emergence of a dangerous terrorist organization, authorities in Abuja considered cases of extremist attacks on their opponents as manifestations of ordinary banditry and religious clashes that have been occurring here regularly since the country gained independence.

The apotheosis of terror was the attempted revolt of Boko Haram, led by its leader Muhammad Yusuf, on July 26, 2009, the goal of which was to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. In response, the Nigerian government declared an all-out war to eradicate this organization. The Nigerian army and security forces carried out large-scale operations to physically destroy Islamists. In total, about 800 militants were eliminated, including their leader, who was allegedly killed while trying to escape. Within a few months, Boko Haram was believed to be finished by the Nigerian authorities. But, as further developments showed, the group was not destroyed; it only stopped its activities for a while, going underground.

The Algerian terrorist group Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operating in the Sahel zone has made a lot of efforts to revive Boko Haram. The surviving supporters of Muhammad Yusuf, who fled Nigeria, met in Chad with representatives of AQIM, who offered them their services to restore the organization. Algerian terrorist leader Abdelmalek Droukdel promised his “Salafi brothers” weapons and equipment to take revenge on the ruling “Christian minority” in Nigeria for the murders of “martyr Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf” and his Muslim companions. Many members of the group were sent to training camps in Arab countries and Pakistan. Abubakar Shekau, who became the head of the organization, traveled to Saudi Arabia with a group of his supporters, where he met with representatives of Al-Qaeda and discussed issues of military training of militants and receiving financial assistance.

As for the organization’s sources of funding, back in 2002, Osama bin Laden sent one of his associates to Nigeria to distribute $3 million among local Salafis. And one of the recipients of this help was Muhammad Yusuf. At the initial stage of the group’s activities, the main source of funding was donations from its members. But after establishing ties with Algerian AQIM, Boko Haram opened up channels for receiving help from various Islamist groups in Saudi Arabia and the UK, including Al-Muntada Trust Fund and the World Islamic Society. In February 2014, Nigerian police arrested Sheikh Muhyiddin Abdullahi, the foundation's director in Nigeria, on suspicion of financing Boko Haram. Even earlier, in September 2012, David Elton, a member of the House of Lords of the English Parliament, accused the same fund of providing assistance to Nigerian terrorists.

A significant source of Boko Haram's income is the kidnapping of foreigners and wealthy Nigerians. Nigerian Islamists do not disdain banal robbery, carrying out regular attacks on branches of local banks.

Based on the fact that, according to the French Ministry of Defense, each recruit who joins the ranks of Boko Haram receives an entrance bonus of 100 euros, and for subsequent participation in each military operation 1000 euros and for capturing weapons 2000 euros, we can make the conclusion is that the financial base of the group is quite significant.

After its resurgence in 2010, Boko Haram sharply intensified its activities, committing hundreds of mass terrorist attacks in the following years, resulting in thousands of deaths. Thus, in September 2010, militants attacked a prison in the city of Bauchi, where members of the organization arrested during the rebellion were kept. Approximately 800 prisoners, of whom about 120 were Boko Haram members, were released. In August 2011, a suicide bomber rammed a car bomb into the entrance to the UN headquarters in Abuja. As a result of the explosion, 23 people were killed and 80 were injured. January 2012 was marked by six explosions in the city of Kano, the second largest in Nigeria. The regional police headquarters, a state security establishment and an immigration building were attacked by jihadists. A month later, Islamists stormed a prison in the town of Coton Karifi, freeing 119 prisoners.

In recent years, the scope of Boko Haram’s terrorist activities has expanded beyond the borders of Nigeria and has embraced Cameroon, Chad and Niger, to which the United States provides assistance in training military personnel and supplies weapons, while demonstratively refusing to supply weapons to Nigeria due to gross violations of human rights by the Nigerian army against civilians. The most high-profile operations carried out by jihadists in Cameroon were the kidnappings of the wife of the country's vice-president and Sultan Kolofat and her family from their native village in July 2014 and 10 Chinese construction workers in May. In October 2014, they were all released, apparently for ransom, but Cameroonian authorities refused to comment on this matter. No less high-profile actions were carried out in Chad, where on June 15, 2015, as a result of explosions in the capital of N'Djamena, carried out near the buildings of the police academy and police headquarters by four suicide bombers, 27 people were killed and about 100 were injured of varying degrees of severity.

In total, over the past 6 years in Nigeria and neighboring countries, about 20 thousand people have died at the hands of Boko Haram militants and more than 2 million have been temporarily displaced.

Against the backdrop of a sharp increase in the terrorist activities of Boko Haram, many in Nigeria began to wonder: is it not a banal political tool used by influential figures in the North and South of Nigeria, as well as external forces, to put pressure on the federal authorities? In this regard, the statement of the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Muslims, Sultan Abubakar Mohammed Saad, of Nigeria’s Muslims, deserves the most serious attention: “Boko Haram still remains a mystery.” He called on Nigerian authorities to launch a thorough investigation "to get to the bottom of the matter" about the group. “I think there is a bigger picture that no one sees except those who are behind it,” the Sultan emphasized. According to some analysts, the deliberate elevation from the very beginning of the activities of Boko Haram, a purely local extremist organization, to the level of a national, and today a serious regional threat, is explained by the fact that they are going to use it to aggravate inter-religious and inter-tribal relations in order to weaken the central government or even for the collapse of the state at a time that the forces behind it consider most suitable. In addition to external actors, not only part of the northern elite may be interested in this, but also certain circles in the southern regions who dream of a “new Biafra” (the secession of oil-producing states from Nigeria) and do not want to share income from oil exports with the northerners.

In one of his speeches, speaking about terrorism, former President of the country Goodluck Jonathan noted that there are sympathizers of Boko Haram even in the government and secret services.

As for the US position in relation to the processes taking place in Nigeria, and to the terrorist organization in particular, this position, as on many other issues, bears the stamp of double standards. Having announced the inclusion of three leaders of the group led by Abubakar Shekau on the list of international terrorists, the US State Department, until November 2013, when the victims of the jihadists began to number in the thousands, opposed the inclusion of Boko Haram in the register of terrorist organizations on the grounds that it “is not poses a direct danger to the United States" and is only a threat of regional significance. This is despite the fact that back in 2011, the head of the US Africa Command, General Carter Ham, noted that the three largest groups in Africa, namely the Algerian Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb, the Somali Al-Shabaab and the Nigerian Boko Haram strengthen ties to carry out terrorist actions against the United States. Each of them, the general emphasized, poses “a significant threat not only to the region, but also to the United States.” And the leaders of Boko Haram themselves have repeatedly threatened to attack American targets, calling the United States “a country of prostitutes, infidels and liars.”

The presence of such a strong lever of influence on the Nigerian government as the terrorist organization Boko Haram, although sponsored by other forces, for the time being did not at all contradict the “national interests” of the United States in Africa, where China is beginning to gain increasing influence.

Nigeria's cooperation with China, which is gaining unprecedented momentum, is causing serious concern in Washington.

Trade turnover between the two countries increased from $384 million in 1998 to $18 billion in 2014. China has invested more than $4 billion in the country's oil infrastructure and developed a four-year plan to develop Nigerian trade, agriculture, telecommunications and construction. According to conservative estimates, Beijing has invested more than $13 billion in the Nigerian economy as of 2015. In November 2014, a contract was signed between China and Nigeria to implement the largest Chinese infrastructure project abroad worth $11.97 billion - the construction of a 1,402 km long railway from the economic capital of the country, Lagos, to the city of Calabar in the east.

During his visit to Beijing in April of this year, the current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, noting “China’s sincere desire to help Nigeria,” emphasized that “Nigeria should not miss such an opportunity.” All this contributes to the rapid growth of the authority of the Celestial Empire and sympathy for it from the local population. According to a 2014 BBC survey, 85% of Nigerians have a positive view of Chinese activities in their country, while only 1% disapprove. According to the experts who conducted this study, this gives reason to consider Nigeria the most pro-Chinese country in the world. And, as noted in one of the publications, this cannot but worry the United States. So, don’t be surprised if one day the world community suddenly decides, the observer writes, that the Nigerian president has “lost his legitimacy” and the country needs “democratic reforms” under outside jurisdiction. Is it for this reason that the Nigerian government, quite unexpectedly, to the great regret of the Americans, in December 2014 refused US services to train a separate Nigerian battalion to combat terrorism, and in 2015, according to Nigerian media reports, turned to Russia, China and Israel requesting assistance in training special forces and supplying the necessary military equipment and equipment to fight Boko Haram.

With the rise of President Muhammad Buhari to power in May 2015 and the creation of an 8,700-strong multinational force of Benin, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, Boko Haram has suffered serious military damage. The bulk of the militants took refuge in the inaccessible Sambisa forest on the border with Niger, while the other part went underground, from where they continue to carry out terrorist attacks. Despite the losses suffered, the group still poses a major threat to the security of the region and retains the combat capabilities to conduct serious operations. So, as recently as June 4 of this year, it carried out an attack on a military garrison near the village of Bosso in the southeast of Niger, as a result of which 30 soldiers from Niger were killed, 2 from Nigeria and 67 people were wounded. According to France Presse, hundreds of militants were involved in the operation.

When assessing the prospects for the further development of Islamic radicalism in Nigeria, one must certainly take into account the dynamics of Islamization of the country, which is noticeably gaining momentum.

According to the American research organization PEW, 63% of Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, support the introduction of Sharia law, and more than half of those surveyed believe that the Islamic caliphate will be re-established in their lifetime.

If we add to this that the economic basis and other factors contributing to the growth of terrorism, such as the huge gap in the incomes of the poor population and the local elite, corruption on an unprecedented scale, inter-tribal and regional rivalry not only persist, but very often tend to worsen, then The fight against terrorism in Nigeria will drag on for many years. This is evidenced, among other things, by the practice of the counter-terrorism fight against AQIM in Algeria and Al-Shabab in Somalia, which, despite all possible measures to neutralize them, continue their terrorist activities, spreading them to new countries. Recent bloody attacks by jihadists in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Kenya confirm this disappointing conclusion.

Special for the Centenary

“Whoever claims that ‘the conflict is over’ is lying. “Boko Haram is by no means dead.” Sitting in his luxurious office on the ground floor of a large and highly secure villa in Maiduguri, Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima expresses disagreement with the position of the army and the head of state. They have repeatedly declared the “technical defeat” of the terrorist group, which in 2009 began its bloody jihad from this city after the liquidation of its founder Mohammed Yusuf by the special services.

Governor Shettima is clearly alarmed by a confidential report he has received, which contains a long list of recent “incidents” (occurring at least once a week). After a break from September to January, the “season” of terrorist attacks begins again in Maiduguri, although the number of victims has declined. Security forces recently dismantled two explosives manufacturing sites in the heart of the city, raising fears of large-scale terrorist attacks in the future.

Maiduguri has long been a besieged stronghold in a region that has lost 20,000 people dead and is home to more than 2.6 million refugees since the conflict began. Parts of the state, which is twice the size of Belgium and borders Chad, Cameroon and Niger, are still not controlled by the army. Jihadists continue to move unhindered, find supply lines, infiltrate the economy and conduct military operations.

Borno is a “province of the Islamic State”

Statements about the weakening of Boko Haram are due to the fact that the movement has collapsed into several parts. Without a central command, the jihadist organization has now split into two or three groups. According to some sources, since March they have been negotiating a possible unification under the leadership of a certain Mamman Noor.

We know little about the strategist, who is credited with masterminding the 2011 attack on the UN building in the Nigerian capital of Abuja and the June 2016 operation in Diffa in southeastern Niger (26 security forces killed and 55 rebels killed). His mastery of logistics and communications among African jihadists has given him a high-profile reputation from Kidal (Mali) to Mogadishu (Somalia) and Khartoum (Sudan).

In Borno, soldiers and volunteers involved in the fight against terrorism talk about the “Nura Group.” At the same time, Boko Haram represents the “West African Province” of the “Islamic State” , of which Abu Musab al-Barnawi (sometimes called the son of Mohamed Yusuf) was appointed “ruler” in August 2016.

Thousands of kilometers away from Nigeria, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi eventually ousted the unruly Abubakar Shekau, who had led Boko Haram since 2009. Shekau's rambling (and religiously unorthodox) statements, the killing of Muslims, and the use of children as suicide bombers have all made him an outcast within the Islamic State.

Shekau in the forest, Blashera on the border

The Shekau Group is weakened but still active in northeastern Nigeria. In May, it released 82 schoolgirls abducted three years earlier in exchange for the release of several militants and large sums of money from Western intermediaries. Shekau and his henchmen (most of them belong to the Kanuri tribe) continue operations in the eastern part of the Sambisa forest, where fighting continues between the Mujahideen and the army.

Context

Life under Boko Haram rule

BBC Russian Service 04/15/2015

ISIS and Boko Haram: similarities of ideas, goals and strategies

IRNA 09/11/2014

Boko Haram in Hell

Corriere Della Sera 04/10/2013 Shekau's people maintain a presence in the vicinity of Maiduguri, as well as in the strategic border area with Cameroon. In the country, which went to war with Boko Haram in 2014, the Shekau group has strongholds and perhaps even logistics bases around Kolofata, where deadly attacks often take place.

A little further north, near the border of Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, the former smuggler Bana Blashera, who joined Boko Haram, knows all the local passages and paths like the back of his hand. At one time he was considered Shekau's successor and enjoys a certain amount of autonomy.

Lake Chad - a refuge on the borders of four countries

Proven strategists, Mamman Nour and Abu Musab al-Barnawi maintain a presence in the western part of the Sambisa forest, as well as near Lake Chad, which has become their new refuge on the border of four states. They attracted West African jihadists into their ranks, who arrived in the country with weapons and luggage, including from Libya. They organize training for militants on the lake islands and try to negotiate with al-Qaeda (terrorist organization banned in Russia - editor's note) on the division of arms smuggling channels.

Le Monde obtained this information from several reports from regional security forces.

Although Mamman Nour and Abu Musab al-Barnawi are under the IS flag, they have not severed ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its satellites. According to several sources, their emissaries have established contact with jihadist groups like Ansarul Islam, which has been rampant in northern Burkina Faso since late 2016. In doing so, they appear to be trying to add weight to the term “IS province” and also to expand their influence beyond the Chad basin in the hope of winning over other groups in the area from Mauritania to the Central African Republic.

“In recent months, we have noted new and clear interregional dynamics that may be embodied in the Central African Republic, Libya and Burkina Faso. The Noura-Barnawi group is making efforts to incorporate other jihadist movements into IS's West African Province and to form new militias, says Yan St-Pierre, a counter-terrorism expert based in Germany Modern Security Consulting Group. “West Africa Province has methodically built a network outside its ‘natural’ area of ​​operation and has patiently tapped into regional jihadist dynamics.”

New strategy

Boko Haram was originally an Islamist sect founded in 2002, and then transformed into a jihadist group with a number of demands that did not go beyond local boundaries. In 2015, the organization grew into a West African offshoot of IS and began trying to expand its activities to border countries northeast of Nigeria. Now its expansion plans are aimed at the whole of West Africa. “The response from the states of the region does not cover crisis areas that are outside the Lake Chad basin. So Boko Haram still has a head start,” says one Cameroonian analyst.

In addition, the duo of Mamman Nour and Abu Musab al-Barnawi are testing a new, softer strategy towards the forgotten populations of states, who are being persecuted by the army and abandoned by traditional and religious leaders.

“In the lakes region it appears to be working because the hard-hit population is receptive to what they perceive as steps forward. It feels like they are less willing to cooperate with us,” answers a member of the volunteer self-defense unit, which is subordinate to the Nigerian intelligence services.

The leaders of the “IS province” distance themselves from the blind cruelty of Shekau and try to spare villages in the south of Lake Chad (in some cases, residents are warned about the actions). In addition, the population is offered food, medicines seized during raids and a less bloody version of jihadist Salafism. In addition, the Islamists were able to chalk up certain military successes in operations against the armed forces in the region, which have been part of a joint international group for two and a half years now: it does not have the necessary budget, is poorly armed, and is also shaken by political squabbles and rivalries at the command level.

“This kind of Boko Haram is much more dangerous because it does everything to gain the sympathy of the population,” concludes Borno Governor Kashim Shettima.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

Boko Haram is an Islamist terrorist group operating in the north and northeast of Nigeria. The organization was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002. He built a religious complex, a mosque and a school where the recruitment of future militants took place.

The name of the gang can be translated from Arabic as “Western education is a sin”; it consists of two words “boko” (translated from Arabic as “false”, radical Islamists use this word to denote Western education) and haram (“sin”).

In 2015, the militants swore allegiance to the Islamic State (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation - note by AiF.ru) and took a new name for themselves: “West African Province of the Islamic State.”

Ideology

Supporters of the group consider Western culture, including education and science, to be a sin. According to terrorists, women in particular should under no circumstances study or wear skirts. Also, Boko Haram supporters do not recognize voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers, and scientific truths (for example, the water cycle in nature, Darwinism, the sphericity of the Earth), which, in their opinion, contradict Islam.

The Nigerian government, from the point of view of Boko Haram, is “corrupted” by Western ideas and consists of “non-believers,” and the country’s leaders are Muslims only formally. In this regard, the current government, as the group's leaders say, should be overthrown, and Sharia law should be introduced in the country.

According to this organization's understanding of Sharia, sinners must face the most severe punishment both in this life and in the hereafter. Therefore, unrighteous Nigerians, from the point of view of Boko Haram, must be punished through physical violence.

Ethnic composition

The bulk of Boko Haram militants are representatives of the Kanuri people. There are over 3 million of them in Nigeria. Most of them are Muslims. In addition, among the militants there are representatives of other African tribes: Fulani and Chaos.

Bandit activities

year 2009 - Mohammed Yusuf attempted a rebellion aimed at creating an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. After this, on July 29, 2009, the police stormed the group's base in Maiduguri. Mohammed Yusuf was arrested by the police and later died under unclear circumstances;

2010 - about 50 gang supporters attacked a prison in the city of Bauchi, where extremists arrested during the rebellion were kept. 721 of the 759 prisoners held in the prison were released;

2011 - organization of explosions in the city of Damaturu. The target of the attack is police, military and residents of Christian areas. A total of 150 people died;

2012 - attack on Christian communities located in Adamawa state, resulting in the death of at least 29 people;

2012 - Suicide bombers blew up three churches in Kaduna state; according to the Red Cross, over 50 people died;

2013 - due to the activities of Boko Haram, the Nigerian government declared a state of emergency in the country;

2014 - the group kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from a high school in the village of Chibok (Borno State). Attack on an educational institution leader of the organization, Abubakar Shekau, explained that “girls should leave school and get married”;

2014 - a double terrorist attack was committed in the city of Jos (Plateau State), as a result of which more than 160 civilians were killed and more than 55 were injured;

2014 - terrorists captured the city of Buni Yadi and announced the creation of a caliphate on the territory under its control;

2015 - 16 cities and villages in northern Nigeria in the state of Borno were burned, including the 10,000-person city of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad, and several cities were captured.

Government position

The Nigerian government's attempt at dialogue with the Boko Haram group has not yet been successful. The authorities are conducting full-fledged military operations against the militants using aviation and artillery.

Sharia (translated from Arabic as “path”, “way of action”) is a set of legal, canonical-traditional, moral, ethical and religious norms of Islam, covering a significant part of the life of a Muslim, one of the forms of religious law.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحي م

1. Boko Haram is an Islamic movement in Nigeria that was founded by Islamic scholar Muhammad Yusuf in 2002. in the city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in northeastern Nigeria. Later the movement spread to other northern provinces. Some studies describe Muhammad Yusuf as a Salafist who was strongly influenced by the thoughts of Ibn Taymiyyah. It is mentioned that Muhammad Yusuf studied under his father, who was a faqih and teacher of Qu'ran. Apparently, Muhammad Yusuf is a sincere man who decided to come forward for Islam, he was an influential person and his followers spread across various provinces of Nigeria. Nigeria's secular regime saw his call as a threat to itself.

An observer of Muhammad Yusuf and his followers will see that the name Boko Haram (meaning "banning Western enlightenment" in Hausa) was not given by Muhammad Yusuf or his followers, but was given by others because of the group's call for a ban Western enlightenment. Some say that the name of the group is "Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'a", while others say that the name of the group is "Harakat Ahlus Sunna li Dawat wal Jihad" (Dawah and Jihad Movement of the People of Sunnah), and others say that the name of the group is - “People dedicated to spreading the teachings of the Prophet.” But the political establishment and the media call the group “Boko Haram” because... the group demands Islamic enlightenment, application of its laws and works to ban the manifestation of any sin in the country. The influence of Muhammad Yusuf and his followers extended to almost all northern provinces. He and his followers were forced into hiding due to threats of attacks from the security forces of former President Obasanjo's regime. He and his followers began to manifest themselves after 2006, entering into harsh confrontation with the secular regime of Nigeria, demanding the implementation of Islam throughout the country. It appears that Muhammad Yusuf did not call for violence or the use of weapons as a method of his call; on the contrary, he insisted that the call must be carried out peacefully. This is reinforced by the fact that although he was arrested, he was released due to the lack of any evidence linking him or his group to violence. The people openly accepted his call and he taught them. He stopped calling on those infidels who refused his call. He said: “I believe that Islamic law should be established in Nigeria, and throughout the world, if possible, but this must happen through dialogue.”

All this clearly indicates that the beginning of this movement was non-violent.

2. It is believed that the formation of Boko Haram was influenced by social and economic factors since the participation of England in 1903. The Sokoto Caliphate, which ruled the country for more than 100 years, was destroyed. Nigeria is a country where Muslims make up 70% of the indigenous population. In the northern region, Muslims make up the vast majority of the population - 90%. The total population of the country is 150 million people. Therefore, the task of various successful Muslim groups and organizations was to prohibit everything that is Western. These goals subsequently expanded to

the spread of Islam in the north and the implementation of Sharia law.

Islamic roots have been firmly established over the centuries. Islam entered the Kano region in the north of the country in the early 7th century and spread to the Hausa and Faulani regions of northern and central Nigeria through trade relations. Islam spread rapidly in the mid-10th century through scholars from Spain (Andalusia). The Sharia courts of Nigeria apply the madhhab of Imam Maliki, the majority of Muslims are Sunnis. Even today, Muslims proudly remember the Sokoto Caliphate, which was established in northern Nigeria in the 9th century by Osman Dan Fodio, known as Osman ibn Fodio.

It is obvious that various Islamic groups and organizations of different orientations have arisen due to the Islamic atmosphere in northern Nigeria. The intense enthusiasm for Islam in the northern provinces forced successive secular federal regimes to agree to the implementation of some parts of Islamic Sharia in the 12 provinces, even if this implementation was partial.

It was in this atmosphere that the Boko Haram movement arose in northern Nigeria, organized in 2002. Muhammad Yusuf and a group of students who studied Sharia.

Boko Haram began as an organization opposing Western enlightenment and working to restore Islam. The organization's spokesman, Abu Abdurrahman, told the BBC on June 21, 2001: “Our goals are broader than those that we established when we created the organization, namely, the fight against Western enlightenment. Today we demand the establishment of an Islamic state that is not based on democratic rule. In the northern states, Sharia is not implemented in its true sense.” In 2004 the group called for the establishment of an Islamic state and the implementation of Islamic Sharia throughout Nigeria.

3. As we mentioned above, their actions were not violent, on the contrary, they called for dialogue and presented their Islamic views using peaceful means. However, Nigeria's secular regime treated them with brutality, and this influenced the group's policy to shift towards violence.

A: After the number of followers of the group in the northern regions increased and they began to call people to Islam, presenting them with Islamic views and entering into dialogue with them, the secular regime became afraid that more and more people were accepting the views of the movement that calls for the implementation of Islam. Therefore, the government began to pursue a cruel policy towards the movement. People were shocked by satellite footage showing security forces killing dozens of group members in cold blood. Also, the Islamic Ummah was shocked by the news of the murder of Muhammad Yusuf in the dungeons of the security services after his arrest.

The attacks on the groups were extremely brutal and barbaric, in addition to the murder of the movement's leader, which revealed the regime's intense hatred of Islam and its followers. At the end of July 2009 Regime forces raided the movement's headquarters and killed hundreds of followers in an extremely barbaric manner. The mass genocide killed 700 people and forced 3,500 people to become refugees. Security forces arrested Muhammad Yusuf and shot him a few hours later, saying he was trying to escape. No one believes the government's claims, even Human Rights Watch, which rarely takes the side of Muslims, protested against these heinous actions, saying: "The extrajudicial killing of Yusuf in a police office is a shocking example of shameless violation of the law by the Nigerian police in the name of the rule of law."

B: In addition to this, Muslims have been deprived of political rights for many years. The ruling secular Democratic People's Party, created by former President Obasanjo (1999-2007), an agent of America, has announced a policy of pacifying Muslims. This policy was reversed by the current President Jonathan. The policy implied a rotation of power between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority, which, in essence, equalized the majority and the minority, and this angered Muslims. President Umar Musa Yar'Adua died in 2010. in the second year of his 4-year term, and, in accordance with the policy of pacifying Muslims, it was understood that the current President of Nigeria was to be a Muslim. But the ruling Democratic People's Party nominated not a Muslim, but a Christian, Goodluck Jonathan, for the post of president in the elections. Naturally, Jonathan won the election, because... the ruling party was in power and could influence the outcome of the elections. This led to chaos during the April 2011 elections, in which 800 people, mostly Muslims, died.

All this resulted in further rejection of Jonathan in the northern provinces. There were Muslim protests, which were brutally suppressed by the regime. The Special Forces battalion killed 23 people in an explosion at a convenience store in central Maiduguri on July 24, 2011. Amnesty International noted that "special forces were brought into the city before the explosion, and they brutally killed many people," and demanded that President Jonathan stop breaking the law, trampling on human rights, and not allowing the police and armed forces to do what he did. whatever they want. There are indications that the regime was complicit in these bombings and concocted stories to achieve goals in the service of American interests. It is pertinent to mention here that the newly elected President Jonathan on July 7, 2010. signed a strategic agreement with the United States on homeland security, economics, development, health, democracy, human rights and regional security cooperation.

4. All these events - the persecution of a peaceful Islamic organization that deals with the call, the murder of its leader in the most vicious manner in the police office, the persecution of Muslims protesting against the regime's violation of the agreement on the rotation of the presidency and much more - led to the fact that the group began to resort to to violence, especially after the raid by special forces in July 2009. and the assassination of its leader Muhammad Yusuf on July 30, 2009.

The group was portrayed in the media as resorting to violence:

In September 2010 hundreds of prisoners who were members of this group were released from Maiduguri prison.

Thus, the involvement of international forces along with the Jonathan regime in these bombings cannot be ruled out, and the blaming of Boko Haram is done to justify security agreements and plunder of the country's oil wealth under the pretext of providing support in the face of terrorism.

As we have already mentioned, a spokesman for the movement said that most of the killings attributed to the organization are not actually connected to it.

6. In fact, the brutal crimes committed by the state against the movement caused acts of violence. Moreover, sometimes the state itself carried out these explosions, etc. And after that it blamed Boko Haram to justify the intervention of colonial powers in Nigeria. Subsequently, these colonialists began to declare that the organization was connected with al-Qaeda. In fact, they were the ones who presented Boko Haram as a threat to the world, as if the group had a navy, warplanes and tanks!

For example, General Carter F. Ham, commander of US forces in Africa (Africom troops; created in 2008) said on August 17, 2011. during a meeting with Nigerian military and security officials: “Multiple sources indicate that Boko Haram is coordinating its activities with al-Qaeda in West African Muslim countries.” He added that this coordination poses a serious threat not only to Africa but to the entire world. In another statement, he said: “In fact, Boko Haram’s connections with other separatist organizations in Africa are of serious interest to us” (AFP, 05/20/2011). Echoing the Africom commander, a Nigerian government spokesman, pointing to the type of bombs that were used last month, said that while there was no concrete evidence, he was convinced that Boko Haram had established links with al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb" (AFP, 05/20/2011).

In an interview broadcast online on August 24, 2011, William Strausberg, a US State Department official, said: “It is well known that the Obama administration has decided to help the Nigerian government counter the illegal activities of terrorist groups in the country.” Other countries such as Britain and Israel have also offered assistance to the Nigerian military. All this is being done to strengthen the position of these countries, in particular America, to maintain control in Nigeria under the pretext of helping in the fight against terrorism.

7. Superpowers are lying when they tell the world that they are helping Nigeria. All they are interested in is the country's oil wealth. It was oil that became the reason for the artificial intensification of the conflict on the part of these countries, especially America, to justify their influence in Nigeria. Nigeria is the 12th country in terms of oil production among OPEC countries, the 8th country among the largest exporters and the 10th country in terms of oil reserves. The US Petroleum News Agency suggests that Nigeria's oil reserves range between 16 and 22 billion barrels, while other studies put the figure at between 30-35 billion barrels. Since 2001 Nigeria's oil production is 2.2 million barrels per day, while it could reach 3 million barrels per day. Oil exploration in Nigeria plays a significant role in the country's economy and accounts for 80% of revenues. Nigeria is a member of OPEC. Oil is located in the state of Delta, which has an area of ​​20 thousand square meters. km. Oil plays an important role in the economic and political life of the country. The land of Nigeria is rich, located in the tropical zone and has abundant water resources as well as offshore islands. 90 percent of oil is exported from this region. Along with this, Nigeria has gas reserves three times greater than oil reserves.

To maintain control over Nigerian oil, the superpowers carry out acts of violence and blame Boko Haram for it, and then, under the pretext of what they call terrorism, sign military and security agreements with Nigeria in order to prepare the ground for actual intervention and obtain control over oil wealth. Consequently, not all acts of violence committed either before or after the elections were necessarily committed by Boko Haram. Many of these may be related to conflict between local parties linked to external forces, while some may be related to anti-terrorism policies. In order to create a military foothold in Nigeria, the US announced a policy of combating terrorism in Africa during the Bush administration, just as it was done throughout the world, under the pretext of which Afghanistan and Iraq were occupied. In Nigeria, things follow a similar pattern. This is not being done for the sake of establishing peace in the country or the prosperity of Nigerians, on the contrary, Nigerian oil and only oil comes first. In addition, Nigeria is a strategic region because... is the most populous country on the African continent. From Nigeria, these superpowers can spread to neighboring countries to provoke unrest among peoples in accordance with their policy of creating “militant warring factions” and then controlling these countries.

The least these countries are burdened with is assistance to Nigeria. On the contrary, their goals are to steal its resources and wealth.

8. As stated above, Boko Haram's call was initially peaceful and remained so during the time of Muhammad Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him). As a result of his brutal murder and inhumane attacks on Muslims in general, and this group in particular, the group was forced to take up arms. She was forced to do it, and it is not fundamentally violent. If the government stops violence against this group, it will likely return to its original nonviolent calling.

However, the Jonathan regime, which is effectively acting on behalf of the US, is intensifying its murderous attacks on the group to further provoke it. Moreover, in order to serve American interests, the regime holds Boko Haram responsible for bombings carried out by itself, in order to justify the introduction of US influence in place of British influence, and the establishment of hegemony over the country's oil wealth, some of which is pocketed by Jonathan and his circle.

In conclusion, we would like to give the group two pieces of advice:

First: Study the Shariah way of establishing an Islamic state, namely the Righteous Caliphate, and follow the method of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in this matter and return to non-violent call, so as not to leave any excuse for the superpowers, in particular for America, and the Jonathan government, which cooperates with these powers. With this, Boko Haram will be able to thwart the conspiracy of the United States, Britain and the Nigerian government against the Muslim land, which wants to make it a theater of their intervention and plunder its wealth.

Second: We advise Boko Haram to carefully vet those who join the ranks of the organization in order to close the door on proxies of America or England who, having entered the group, commit violent acts, and the blame for them falls on the entire group.

Conclusion:

1. This group was formed in 2002. Islamic scholar Muhammad Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him) who wanted to work on the path of Islam in Nigeria with the help of this group.

2. The group began its activities with a call to ban Western education, and later expanded its activities to a call for the implementation of Sharia.

3. The group began its activities as a peaceful organization until the authorities intensified attacks on the group, starting during the reign of Jonathan, who hates Muslims and Islam, just like America. As a result of these attacks on July 30, 2009. The amir of the group was killed. All this pushed the group to use violence.

4. The group was accused of acts of violence and bombings. Some of them were carried out by the group in self-defense, while others were carried out by the state and agents of superpowers, particularly the US and England, who vie for influence in Nigeria. This was done to justify their intervention in Nigeria on the pretext of helping fight terrorism, bring peace and protect the country.

5. Jonathan's regime is trying to create conditions for civil war between Muslims and Christians by attacking mosques and churches. This is confirmed by his statement on January 8, 2012, given that current Boko Haram leader Abu Bakr Muhammad Shekau clarified on January 12, 2012 that “the group is not involved in these attacks,” and added that “they kill Muslims and Christians and are blaming the group for this to turn Nigerians away from us.”

6. The superpowers, especially the United States, who have established hegemony over Nigeria thanks to Jonathan being their agent, just like Britain, which previously controlled Nigeria, are not interested in helping Nigeria or bringing peace. They compete with each other for control of the country's oil and the transformation of Nigeria into a stronghold for mastery of the entire African continent.

7. We advise our Boko Haram brothers to study the Sharia way of establishing the Islamic state of the Caliphate, which is contained in the Seerah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and return to the non-violent method so that the superpowers and the Nigerian regime do not have an excuse to exploit these violent acts and justify intervention in Nigeria, which will increase their influence in the country.

We also advise them to carefully screen the people joining their ranks so that they are not infiltrated by agents of superpowers to carry out violent acts. So that this does not give rise to subsequent accusations of violence against the group.

Verily, Allah (Holy and Great is He) helps those who help Him, He is Almighty.

_____________________________

I think it’s a very interesting article, analysis and information. The situation was approximately similar with the Ikhwans in Egypt and with many other Islamic movements.

2014 turned out to be an extremely eventful year. The annexation of Crimea, the beginning of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, an armed coup in Thailand, Operation “Indestructible Rock” in the Gaza Strip, the rapid advance of ISIS* in Syria and Iraq. Against this background, the mass abduction of Nigerian schoolgirls in April 2014 by the little-known Boko Haram group * was somewhat drowned in the flow of information noise. Meanwhile, the group represents one of the burning hotbeds of extremism on the dark continent and a global threat to the entire West Africa.

As background, it is worth talking a little about Islam in Africa. The first Muslims crossed into modern-day Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea to find refuge in modern-day Ethiopia as early as the early 7th century. The majority of Muslims in Africa are Sunni, but African Islam is not static and is constantly changing under the influence of social, economic, and political conditions. It is often adapted to African cultural contexts and perspectives, and forms various new forms.

The spread of Islam in West Africa is directly associated with the so-called Fulani (or Fula) Jihad. The Fula originate in the Senegal River valley, where they founded their kingdoms. Until about the beginning of the 9th century, they continued their migration to the regions of Bundu, Bamboo, Diomboko, Kaarta and Bagan. And around the 11th century AD, Islam took root among them.

From 1750 to 1900 they participated in a large number of holy wars (jihad) under the banner of Islam. In the first half of the 19th century, the Fula conquered two important empires. One was based in Masina, controlled by Timbuktu, the other - Sokoto, included the Hausa city-states (Hausaland, northern Nigeria, southern Niger), part of Borno and Western Cameroon.

As a result, the Caliphate of Sokoto was created - an Islamic state with Sharia law, a caliph and emirs. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sokoto was included in the British Protectorate of Nigeria, but the regional elite retained their power. Currently, the Sultans of Sokoto retain their power as the spiritual heads of Muslims in Nigeria.

Having been dormant for a long time, Islam in Nigeria began to gain strength since the end of the 20th century. The 1963 census showed that 26 percent of Nigerians were Muslim, 62 percent were Christian and 14 percent practiced traditional beliefs. However, since 1990, Islam began to permeate the daily lives of Nigerians. Public meetings began and ended with Muslim prayer, and most of the population knew at least some Arabic prayers and the five pillars of the religion. In 2009, the number of Muslims exceeded the number of Christians.

Large numbers of Muslims live in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Swahili Coast and much of West Africa. There are also fewer, but still significant numbers of immigrants living in South Africa.

In the context of the general Islamization of the region, the trend towards an increase in the number of radical Islamic groups is not surprising. One of them was Boko Haram, founded by Mohammed Yusuf around 2002 in the city of Maiduguri.

The official name of the group is “Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad” (translated from Arabic - Society of Adherents to the Dissemination of the Teachings of the Prophet and Jihad). It received the name “Boko Haram” (Hausa Boko haram) from the residents of the city of Maiduguri, in which Yusuf built a religious complex that included a mosque and a school. “Boko Haram” translates to “Western education is forbidden” or “Western education is sinful.” Although the stated purpose of the building was to teach religion to children, the complex was used to recruit supporters.

The main goal of the organization is to introduce Sharia law throughout Nigeria and eradicate the Western way of life. According to members of the group, any social and political activity related to Western values ​​should be prohibited, including: voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers, and secular education. The government of Nigeria, from Boko Haram's point of view, is "corrupted" by Western ideas and consists of "non-believers", even if the president is technically Muslim, so it must be overthrown and the country must be governed by Sharia law, stricter than what is in force in the northern states of Nigeria.

In 2009, an attempt was made to revolt, the goal of which was to create an Islamic state in the northern part of Nigeria, governed by Sharia law. However, it was suppressed, the Maiduguri base was stormed, and Mohammed Yusuf was arrested by the police and later died under unclear circumstances.

April 14, 2014 - the group kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from a high school in the village of Chibok (Borno State). The leader of the organization, Abubakar Shekau, explained the attack on the educational institution by saying that “girls should leave school and get married. On August 21, the group’s fighters captured the city of Buni Yadi (Yobe). At the same time, the group announced the creation of a caliphate on the territory under its control.

By early 2015, Boko Haram had captured an area in the northeast the size of Belgium. However, over the following months, a military operation by Nigerian forces supported by foreign mercenaries and troops from neighboring countries inflicted serious losses on the terrorists.

The bulk of Boko Haram militants are representatives of the Kanuri people; Despite frequent forays outside the Kanuri ethnic territory, attempts to gain a foothold in them were unsuccessful. Due to the incomprehensibility of the Kanuri language for most Nigerians, the Hausa and Fulani languages ​​are widely used in the movement.

At the moment, the group operates in addition to Nigeria in parts of Cameroon, Niger and Chad. A characteristic feature of this organization is its exorbitant cruelty and bloodthirstiness; as a result of the actions of Boko Haram, according to rough estimates, about 20,000 people were killed and about 2.3 million more people were forced to flee their homes. Estimates of the group's size vary widely. Most sources estimate it to be between 7-10 thousand people, but there are also more radical estimates: up to 15 thousand.

Sources of financing are generally quite classic: kidnappings, human trafficking, drug trafficking. In addition, the group is believed to receive funding from a number of corrupt elites who use its capabilities for their own purposes.

Boko Haram was traditionally thought to have close ties to al-Qaeda* in the Maghreb and al-Shabaab*, but in March 2015 they pledged allegiance to the Islamic State*, changing their name to " West African province of the Islamic State"(Islamic State's West Africa Province, ISWAP).

A number of factors make it difficult to combat this group. Along with the classic problems for Africa in building a state, overcoming ethnic disunity, total poverty and lack of education of the population, there are also global trends in the growing popularity of radical Islam. All this is superimposed on the deplorable picture for Nigeria of falling oil prices, which practically neutralizes the ability of the corrupt and weakened state mechanism for active, organized resistance.

Although, it must be said, there has been a long-simmering debate among analysts about why Nigeria's large army turned out to be so weak, especially considering the contrast when its soldiers played an important role in retaliatory strikes in West Africa in the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

It is believed that the Boko Haram militants are opposed by approximately 35 thousand troops from 4 states (Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon). But despite the significant numerical advantage, these forces are clearly insufficient. Also, in March 2015, the African Union supported the creation of a regional association to fight Boko Haram, numbering more than eight thousand people.

By 햄방이 - Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39805121

The United States also has limited participation in the fight against Boko Haram. A small contingent of troops is stationed in Cameroon, and several dozen Green Berets (US Army special operations forces) are sent to Chad and Nigeria to train the armed forces of these countries. The UK provides approximately the same level of assistance.

There is no consensus regarding the global danger of Boko Haram for the entire continent (in the context of the general Islamization of Africa). On the one hand, a geographically isolated and underdeveloped group from sub-Saharan Africa is unlikely to directly threaten countries outside its region.

On the other hand, the continent is simply dotted with pockets of instability and rotting ulcers of Islamic terrorism, and if you try to simply mothball the situation, at one point it may be too late. The lack of strong players in this field also adds to the pessimism. Ironically, what were once the most developed and powerful states on the continent are themselves the sources of the greatest danger. Libya, torn apart - the epicenter of instability in the Maghreb, Egypt - is mired in the struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood and militants in the Sinai Peninsula, Nigeria - was unable to cope with its own demons, and South Africa is no longer the powerful "African Lion" that amazed the world economically. height.

*Organizations are recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia

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About the formation of the origins of ISIS in Iraq