Boko Haram Demons. Boko Haram is a threat to all of West Africa Boko Haram terrorist group

About the most brutal terrorist group in the world

Nigerian terrorist organization "Boko Haram" in the ranking of the "global index of terrorism", calculated by the number of attacks, the number of deaths and the level of property damage, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, in 2015 took the third "prize" place after Iraq and Afghanistan. However, by the number of those killed, it was recognized as the most brutal and bloody extremist group in the world.

On her account in 2014, there were 6644 lost souls. According to this indicator, it even surpassed the "Islamic State", whose victims then became 6073 people. However, until the kidnapping of 276 girls in April 2014 from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria, and until the oath of allegiance to the Islamic State in March 2015, the activities of this extremist organization in the world media did not receive adequate coverage.

Created in 2002 by the well-known Islamic preacher Muhammad Yusuf in the north of Nigeria in the city of Maiduguri in the state of Borno, by now it has turned from a small religious sect into one of the most active terrorist groups in Africa. Its official name, translated from Arabic, is the "Society of Adherents of the Propagation 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.
At the heart of the conflict between the adherents of this movement and the central government of the country, in addition to the ideological factor, are primarily socio-economic reasons, exacerbated by chronic political instability and acute inter-tribal and regional contradictions. Despite the fact that the average per capita income in Nigeria is about $ 2,700 a 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 conditions of 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 employees who have lost their jobs, a huge contingent of unemployed rural youth, urban lower classes, and religious fanatics.

Representatives of the Muslim elite of the northern states have also been seen in sympathy for Boko Haram. Ethnically, the backbone of the group is made up of people from the Kanuri tribe, which accounts for 4% of the approximately 178 million population of the country.

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

The apotheosis of terror was the attempted rebellion on July 26, 2009 by Boko Haram, led by its leader Muhammad Yusuf, 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 the Islamists. In total, about 800 militants were liquidated, including their leader, who was allegedly killed while trying to escape. Within a few months, Boko Haram was believed by the Nigerian authorities to be over. But, as the further development of events 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, made a lot of efforts to revive Boko Haram. The surviving supporters of Mohammed Yusuf, who fled from Nigeria, met in Chad with representatives of AQIM, who offered them their services to restore the organization. Algerian terrorist leader Abdelmalek Drukdel promised his "Salafi brothers" weapons and equipment to take revenge on the ruling "Christian minority" in Nigeria for the murders of the "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 for militants and obtaining financial assistance.

As for the sources of funding for the organization, back in 2002, Osama bin Laden sent one of his associates to Nigeria to distribute $ 3 million among local Salafists. And one of the recipients of this assistance was Mohammed Yusuf. At the initial stage of the group's activities, the main source of funding was donations from its members. But after establishing links with the Algerian AQIM, Boko Haram opened channels for receiving assistance from various Islamist groups in Saudi Arabia and the UK, including the Al-Muntada Trust Fand and the World Islamic Society. In February 2014, Nigerian police arrested Sheikh Muhyiddin Abdullahi, director of this foundation 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 helping Nigerian terrorists.

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

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

After its resurgence in 2010, Boko Haram exploded into activity, carrying out hundreds of mass terrorist attacks in the following years, which killed thousands of people. So, in September 2010, militants attacked a prison in the city of Bauchi, which contained members of the organization arrested during the rebellion. Approximately 800 prisoners, of which about 120 are members of Boko Haram, have been released. In August 2011, a suicide bomber in a car bomb rammed the entrance to the UN headquarters building in Abuja. The explosion killed 23 people and injured 80. January 2012 was marked by six explosions in the city of Kano, the second largest in Nigeria. The jihadists attacked the regional police headquarters, the state security office and the immigration office. A month later, Islamists stormed a prison in the city of Coton Karifi, freeing 119 prisoners.

In recent years, the scope of Boko Haram's terrorist activities has extended beyond Nigeria to Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, which the United States is assisting in training military personnel, supplying weapons, while defiantly refusing to supply weapons to Nigeria due to gross violations of human rights by the Nigerian army. towards civilians. The most resonant operations carried out by jihadists in Cameroon were the kidnappings of the wife of the vice-president of the country and Sultan Kolofat with his family from his native village in July 2014 and 10 Chinese construction workers in May. They were all released in October 2014, apparently for a ransom, but the Cameroonian authorities declined to comment on this. No less high-profile actions were carried out in Chad, where, as a result of explosions in the capital of the country, N'Djamena, arranged near the buildings of the police academy and the main police headquarters, by four suicide bombers, on June 15, 2015, 27 people were killed and about 100 were injured of varying 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 placed in the position of temporarily displaced persons.

Against the backdrop of a sharp increase in the terrorist activities of Boko Haram, many in Nigeria began to wonder: is it 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 the Muslims of Nigeria, Sultan Sokoto Abubakar Mohammed Saad, that "Boko Haram is still a mystery" deserves the most serious attention. He urged the 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 for those who are behind it,” the Sultan stressed. According to some analysts, the purposeful elevation of Boko Haram, a purely local extremist organization, from the very beginning 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 interfaith and intertribal relations in order to weaken the central government. or even for the collapse of the state at a time that the forces behind it will deem most suitable for themselves. In addition to external actors, this may be of interest not only to part of the northern elite, but also to certain circles in the southern regions who dream of a “new Biafra” (about the secession of oil-producing states from Nigeria) and do not want to share income from oil exports with northerners.

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

As for the position of the United States in relation to the processes taking place in Nigeria, and to the terrorist organization in particular, this position, as well as on many other issues, bears the stamp of double standards. After announcing 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 jihadists began to number in the thousands, opposed the inclusion of Boko Haram on the register of terrorist organizations on the grounds that it "does not poses a direct danger to the United States” and is only a threat of regional significance. And this 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-Shabab 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 attacks on American facilities, calling the United States a "prostitute country, infidels and liars."

The presence of such a strong leverage on the government of Nigeria 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 acquire ever-increasing influence.

Gaining unprecedented momentum cooperation between Nigeria and China causes serious concern in Washington.

Trade between the two countries increased from $384 million in 1998 to $18 billion in 2014. The PRC has invested more than $4 billion in the country's oil infrastructure and has 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 for the implementation of the largest Chinese infrastructure project abroad worth $11.97 billion - the construction of a 1,402 km railway from the country's economic capital Lagos to the city of Calabar in the east.

During his visit to Beijing in April this year, the current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, noted "China's sincere desire to help Nigeria", stressed that "Nigeria should not miss such a chance." 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 BBC poll conducted in 2014, 85% of Nigerians view the activities of the Chinese in their country positively, and only 1% disapproves. 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 do not be surprised if one day the world community suddenly considers, the observer writes, that the President of Nigeria has "lost legitimacy" and the country needs "democratic transformation" under outside jurisdiction. Is it not for this reason that the government of Nigeria, quite unexpectedly, to the great regret of the Americans, refused in December 2014 the services of the United States in the preparation of a separate Nigerian counter-terrorism battalion, and in 2015, according to Nigerian media, turned to Russia, China and Israel with a request to assist in the training of special forces and supply the necessary military equipment and equipment to combat Boko Haram.

With the coming to power of President Mohammed Buhari in May 2015 and the creation of an inter-ethnic force consisting of 8,700 members of Benin, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, Boko Haram caused serious military damage. The bulk of the militants took refuge in the hard-to-reach forest area of ​​Sambisa on the border with Niger, the other part went underground, from where they continue to carry out terrorist attacks. Despite the losses suffered, the group still poses a great threat to the security of the region and retains combat capabilities for conducting serious operations. So, as recently as June 4 of this year, it attacked a military garrison near the village of Bosso in the southeast of Niger, as a result of which 30 servicemen from Niger were killed, 2 from Nigeria and 67 people were injured. According to AFP, hundreds of militants were involved in the operation.

When assessing the prospects for the further development of Islamic radicalism in Nigeria, one should certainly take into account the dynamics of the 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, are in favor of the introduction of sharia law, and more than half of those surveyed believe that the Islamic caliphate will be re-established during their lifetime.

If we add to this that the economic basis and other factors that contribute to the growth of terrorism, such as a huge gap in the incomes of the poor and the local elite, unprecedented levels of corruption, tribal and regional rivalry not only persist, but very often tend to escalate, then the fight against terrorism in Nigeria will drag on for years to come. This is evidenced, among other things, by the practice of counter-terrorist struggle against AQIM in Algeria and Al-Shabab in Somalia, which, despite all possible measures to neutralize them, continue their terrorist activities, spreading it to new countries. The recent bloody attacks by jihadists in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Kenya confirm this unfavorable 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 first floor of a large and maximally protected 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 that has come into his possession, which gives 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 begun to decline. Security forces recently removed 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 dead and has hosted more than 2.6 million refugees since the conflict began. Part of the territory of this state, which is twice the size of Belgium and borders Chad, Cameroon and Niger, is still not controlled by the army. Jihadists continue to move freely, find supply lines, infiltrate the economy and conduct military operations.

Borno - "Province of the Islamic State"

Statements about the weakening of Boko Haram are due to the fact that the movement has fallen into several parts. Deprived of 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 Nur.

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

In Borno, the military and volunteers involved in the fight against terrorism speak of the "Nura group". At the same time, "Boko Haram" is the "West African province" of the "Islamic State" , whose “ruler” was appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi (sometimes referred to as the son of Mohamed Yusuf) in August 2016.

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

Shekau in the forest, Blashera on the border

The Shekau Group is weakened but still active in northeastern Nigeria. In May, she released 82 schoolgirls who had been kidnapped three years earlier in exchange for the release of several militants and large sums of money from Western middlemen. Shekau and his henchmen (most of them belong to the Kanuri tribe) continue their operations in the eastern part of the Sambisa forest, where fighting between the Mujahideen and the army does not subside.

Context

Life under Boko Haram

BBC Russian service 04/15/2015

ISIS and Boko Haram: the similarity of ideas, goals and strategies

IRNA 11.09.2014

In Hell Boko Haram

Corriere Della Sera 10.04.2013 The people of Shekau maintain a presence in the vicinity of Maiduguri, as well as in the strategic border zone with Cameroon. In this country, which entered the war with Boko Haram in 2014, the Shekau group has strongholds and perhaps even logistical bases in the vicinity of Kolofata, where bloody attacks often take place.

A little further north, near the border of Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, there is a former smuggler Ban Blasher who joined Boko Haram, who knows all the local passages and trails 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 at the borders of four states

Mammam Noor and Abu Musab al-Barnawi, who have proved themselves as skilled strategists, maintain a presence in the western part of the Sambisa forest, as well as at Lake Chad, which has become their new refuge on the border of the four states. They attracted West African jihadists into their ranks, who arrived in the country with weapons and luggage, including from Libya. They arrange training for militants on the lake islands and try to negotiate with al-Qaeda. (a terrorist organization banned in Russia - ed.) on the division of arms smuggling channels.

Such information was obtained by Le Monde from several reports of regional security forces.

Although Mamman Noor and Abu Musab al-Barnawi are under the banner of IS, they have not severed ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its satellites. According to several sources, their emissaries have made contact with jihadist groups like Ansarul Islam, which has been rampant in northern Burkina Faso since late 2016. By doing so, they seem to be trying to add weight to the expression "IS province", as well as to expand their influence beyond the Chadian basin in the hope of winning over other groups in the area from Mauritania to the Central African Republic.

“In recent months, we have seen a new and distinct cross-regional dynamic that could be translated into the Central African Republic, Libya and Burkina Faso. The Nura-Barnavi group is making efforts to include other jihadist movements in IS's "West African Province" and to form new militias, says counter-terrorism expert Yan St-Pierre, based in Germany Modern Security Consulting Group. “West African Province methodically formed a whole network outside of its “natural” area of ​​operations and patiently tapped into the regional jihadist dynamic.”

New strategy

Initially, Boko Haram was an Islamist sect founded in 2002, and then turned into a jihadist group with a number of demands that did not go beyond the local framework. In 2015, the organization escalated into the West African offshoot of ISIS and began trying to expand into border countries northeast of Nigeria. Now its expansion plans are directed to the whole of West Africa. “The response of the states of the region does not cover the crisis zones that are outside the Lake Chad basin. So Boko Haram still has a head start,” said one Cameroonian analyst.

In addition, the duo of Mamman Noor and Abu Musab al-Barnawi are testing a new, softer strategy towards a population forgotten by the states, which is being targeted by the army and abandoned by traditional and religious leaders.

“In the lake region, this seems to work, as the suffering population is receptive to what they consider to be steps forward. It is felt that it is less willing to cooperate with us, ”responds a fighter of a volunteer self-defense detachment, which is subordinate to the Nigerian special services.

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

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

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

Boko Haram is an Islamist terrorist group operating in northern and northeastern Nigeria. The organization was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002. He built a religious complex, a mosque and a school where future militants were recruited.

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 - "false", radical Islamists designate Western education with this word) and haram ("sin").

In 2015, the militants swore allegiance to the Islamic State (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation - approx. AiF.ru) and took on the new name "Islamic State's West African Province."

Ideology

Supporters of the group consider Western culture, including education and science, to be a sin. According to the terrorists, in particular, women should never study and 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, are contrary to Islam.

The government of Nigeria, from the point of view of Boko Haram, is "corrupted" by Western ideas and consists of "non-believers", and the leaders of the country are only formally Muslims. In this regard, the current government, according to the leaders of the group, should be overthrown, and Sharia law should be introduced in the country.

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

Ethnic composition

The bulk of the 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: Fulbe and Chaos.

Gang activity

year 2009 - Mohammed Yusuf attempted a rebellion, the purpose of which was the creation of an Islamic state in the northern part of Nigeria. After that, 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 supporters of the gang attacked a prison in the city of Bauchi, which contained extremists arrested during the rebellion. 721 out of 759 inmates were released;

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

2012 attack on Christian communities located in Adamawa state, killing at least 29 people;

2012 - Suicide bombers bombed three churches in Kaduna state; according to the Red Cross, more than 50 people died;

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

2014 - a group kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from a lyceum in the village of Chibok (Borno state). The attack on the educational institution leader of the organization, Abubakar Shekau, explained that "girls should leave school and get married";

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

2014 - terrorists captured the city of Buni Yadi and announced the creation of a caliphate in the territory controlled by it;

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

Government position

An attempt by the Nigerian government to negotiate with the Boko Haram group has so far been unsuccessful. The authorities are conducting full-fledged military operations against the militants using aviation and artillery.

Sharia (translated from Arabic - “way”, “mode 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 the state of Borno in northeastern Nigeria. The movement later spread to other northern provinces. In some studies, Muhammad Yusuf is described as a Salafi 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 Qur'an. Apparently, Muhammad Yusuf is a sincere person who decided to come out for the sake of Islam, he was an influential person, and his followers spread to various provinces of Nigeria. Nigeria's secular regime saw his appeal as a threat to itself.

An observer of Muhammad Yusuf and his followers will see that the name "Boko Haram" (meaning "ban on 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 Jamaa", while others say that the name of the group is "Haraqat Ahlus Sunnah li dawat wal jihad" (Movement of Summons and Jihad of the People of the Sunnah), and still 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, the application of its laws, and works to ban the manifestation of any sin in the country. The influence of Muhammad Yusuf and his followers extends to almost all northern provinces. He and his followers were forced into hiding by threats of attacks from the security forces of the former President Obasanjo's regime. He and his followers began to show themselves after 2006, entering into a bitter confrontation with the secular regime of Nigeria, demanding the implementation of Islam throughout the country. Apparently, Muhammad Yusuf did not call for violence or the use of weapons as a method of his conscription, on the contrary, he insisted that the conscription should 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 that he or his group had been involved in the violence. The people openly accepted his call, and he taught them. He stopped calling those infidels who refused his call. He owns the words: "I believe that Islamic law should be established in Nigeria, and throughout the world, if possible, but this should 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, with the participation of England in 1903. The Sokoto Caliphate, which ruled the country for more than 100 years, was destroyed. Nigeria is a country in which 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 middle of the 10th century through scholars from Spain (Andalusia). In the Sharia courts of Nigeria, the madhhab of Imam Maliki is used, 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 clear that various Islamic groups and organizations of various 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 the Islamic Sharia in the 12 provinces, even if this implementation was partial.

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

Boko Haram began as an organization opposed to Western enlightenment and working to restore Islam. The organization's spokesman, Abu Abdurrahman, told the BBC on June 21, 2001: “Our goals are wider than those we set out when we created the organization, namely the fight against Western enlightenment. Today we are demanding the establishment of an Islamic state that is not based on democratic rule. In the northern states, Sharia is not implemented in the 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, the Nigerian secular regime treated them with all the cruelty, and this influenced the change in the group's policy towards violence.

A: After the number of followers of the group in the northern regions increased and they began to call people to Islam by presenting Islamic views to them and entering into dialogue with them, the secular regime was 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 against the movement. People were shocked by satellite footage showing security forces killing dozens of members of the group 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 assassination of the leader of the movement, 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. As a result of the mass genocide, 700 people died and 3,500 people were forced to become refugees. The security services arrested Muhammad Yusuf and shot him hours later, claiming 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 the police office is a shocking example of the shameless violation of the law by the Nigerian police in the name of the rule of law."

B: On top of that, Muslims have been denied 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 pacification of Muslims. This policy has been abolished by current President Jonathan. The policy implied a rotation of power between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority, which, in fact, equalized the majority and the minority, and this caused the wrath of the 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 pacification of 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 presidency. Naturally, Jonathan won the election, because. the ruling party was in power and could influence the outcome of the election. This led to chaos during the April 2011 elections in which 800 people died, mostly Muslims.

All this resulted in further rejection of Jonathan in the northern provinces. There were Muslim protests, which the regime brutally suppressed. Special forces battalion killed 23 people in an explosion in a store in the center of 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, violating human rights, and not allowing the police and military to do what they whatever they please. There are indications that the regime was involved in these bombings and fabricated stories to achieve a goal in the service of American interests. It is appropriate to mention here that the newly elected President Jonathan on July 7, 2010. signed a strategic agreement with the United States on issues of homeland security, economics, development, health, democracy, human rights and cooperation in the field of regional security.

4. All these events - the persecution of a peaceful Islamic organization that is engaged in conscription, the murder of its leader in the most malicious way in the police office, the persecution of Muslims protesting against the regime's violation of the agreement on the rotation of the presidential office, and much more - led the group to resort to to violence, especially after the special forces raid in July 2009. and the assassination of its leader Muhammad Yusuf on July 30, 2009.

The group has been portrayed in the media as violent:

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

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

As we have already mentioned, a representative of the movement stated that most of the murders 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, and so on. And after that, they blamed Boko Haram to justify the intervention of the colonial powers in Nigeria. In the future, these colonialists began to declare that the organization was associated with Al-Qaeda. In fact, it was they who presented Boko Haram as a threat to the world, as if the group had a fleet, military aircraft and tanks!

For example, General Carter F. Ham, commander of US forces in Africa (Africom troops; created in 2008) stated on August 17, 2011. during a meeting with Nigerian military and security officials: "Many sources say that Boko Haram is coordinating 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 links with other separatist organizations in Africa are of great 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 along with the absence of any concrete evidence, he is convinced that Boko Haram has established links with al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb” (AFP, 05/20/2011).

In an interview broadcast on the Internet on August 24, 2011, William Strausberg, a US State Department official, said: "It is well known that the Obama administration has made a decision 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, in order to maintain control in Nigeria under the pretext of helping in the fight against terrorism.

7. Superpowers lie when they assure the world community that they are helping Nigeria. All they care about is the country's oil wealth. It was oil that caused the artificial intensification of the conflict by 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 American Petroleum News Agency suggests that Nigeria's oil reserves range between 16 and 22 billion barrels, while other studies put the figure between 30-35 billion barrels. Since 2001 Nigeria's oil production is 2.2 million barrels per day, while it can be as high as 3 million barrels per day. Oil exploration in Nigeria plays a significant role in the country's economy and accounts for 80% of income. Nigeria is a member of OPEC. Oil is located in the state of Delta, which is 20 thousand square meters in area. 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 abundant in water resources, as well as offshore islands. 90 percent of oil is exported from this region. Along with this, Nigeria has three times more gas reserves than oil reserves.

In order to maintain control over Nigerian oil, the superpowers stage acts of violence and blame Boko Haram for this, and then, under the pretext of what they call terrorism, sign agreements with Nigeria in the military and security spheres in order to pave the way for the actual intervention and obtaining control over oil wealth. Consequently, not all acts of violence committed both before and after the elections are necessarily committed by Boko Haram. Many of these may be related to conflict between local parties associated with outside 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 Jr. period, similar to how it was done around the world, under the pretext of which Afghanistan and Iraq were occupied. In Nigeria, things follow a similar pattern. This is not done for the sake of establishing peace in the country or the prosperity of the Nigerians, on the contrary, Nigerian oil and only oil is in the first place. 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 the peoples in accordance with their policy of creating "militant warring factions" and then controlling these countries.

The least that these countries are burdened with is aid to Nigeria. On the contrary, their goal is to plunder its resources and wealth.

8. As stated above, Boko Haram's appeal was originally 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 fundamentally she is not violent. If the government stops violence against this group, it will most likely return to its original non-violent appeal.

However, the Jonathan regime, which is effectively acting on behalf of the US, is stepping up its bloody attacks on the group to further provoke them. Moreover, in order to serve American interests, the regime is holding Boko Haram responsible for its own bombings, in order to justify injecting US influence over British influence, and establishing hegemony over the country's oil wealth, some of which is pocketed by Jonathan and his entourage.

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

First: Learn the Sharia 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 invocation, so as not to leave any reason for the superpowers, in particular for America, and the government of Jonathan, which cooperates with these powers. With this, Boko Haram will be able to thwart the plot of the US, Britain and the Nigerian government against Muslim land, who want to make it the theater of their intervention and plunder its riches.

Second: We advise Boko Haram to scrutinize those who join the ranks of the organization in order to close the door on proteges of America or England who, upon entering 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 with a call to ban Western education, and later expanded its activities to call for the implementation of Shariah.

3. The group began as a peaceful organization until the authorities intensified attacks on this group, starting with 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 prompted the group to use violence.

4. The group was accused of acts of violence and explosions. Some of them were carried out by the group in self-defense, while others were staged by the state and agents of the superpowers, in particular the US and Britain, who are vying for influence in Nigeria. This was done in order to justify their intervention in Nigeria under the pretext of helping to fight terrorism, to establish peace and protect the country.

5. The Jonathan regime is trying to create the conditions for a civil war between Muslims and Christians by attacking mosques and churches. This is supported by his statement on January 8, 2012, given that the current leader of Boko Haram, Abu Bakr Muhammad Shekau, clarified on January 12, 2012 that "the group is not involved in these attacks" and added that "they are killing Muslims and Christians and blame it on the group to turn the Nigerians away from us.”

6. The superpowers, especially the US, which has established hegemony over Nigeria due to the fact that Jonathan is their agent, as well as Britain, which previously controlled Nigeria, are not interested in helping Nigeria, nor in establishing peace. They compete with each other for control of the country's oil and turning Nigeria into a foothold for mastering the entire African continent.

7. We advise our Boko Haram brothers to study the Sharia path of establishing an Islamic State Caliphate contained in the Sirah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and return to a non-violent method so that the superpowers and the Nigerian regime have no reason to exploit these violent acts and justification for intervention in Nigeria, which will increase their influence in the country.

We also advise them to carefully check the people who join their ranks so that they are not infiltrated by agents of the superpowers to carry out violent actions. So that this does not give rise to the subsequent accusation of violence against the group.

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

_____________________________

It seems to me 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, the armed coup in Thailand, the operation "indestructible rock" in the Gaza Strip, the rapid advance of ISIS * in Syria and Iraq. Against this backdrop, the mass kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls in April 2014 by the little-known group Boko Haram * drowned somewhat in the flows of informational noise. Meanwhile, the group is one of the burning hotbeds of extremism on the black continent and a global threat to all of West Africa.

As a background, it is worth talking a little about Islam in Africa. The first Muslims crossed the territories of modern Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea to find refuge in modern Ethiopia as early as the beginning of the 7th century. The majority of Muslims in Africa are Sunnis, however African Islam is not static and is constantly changing under the influence of social, economic, and political conditions. Often it adapts to African cultural contexts and attitudes, and forms various new forms.

The direct spread of Islam in West Africa is associated with the so-called Fulani (or Fula) Jihad. The Fula originate in the valley of the Senegal River, 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, two important empires conquered the Fula. 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. At present, the Sultans of Sokoto have retained their power as the spiritual heads of the Muslims of Nigeria.

Dormant for a long time, Islam in Nigeria began to gain strength from the end of the 20th century. The 1963 census showed that 26 percent of Nigerians were Muslims, 62 percent were Christians, and 14 percent had traditional beliefs. However, since 1990, Islam began to permeate the daily life of Nigerians. Public meetings began and ended with Muslim prayer, and most of the population knew at least a few 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 a smaller but still significant number of immigrants in South Africa.

In the context of the general Islamization of the region, it is not surprising that there is a tendency towards an increase in the number of radical Islamic groups. 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 - the Society of Adherents of the Propagation of the Teachings of the Prophet and Jihad). It received the name "Boko Haram" (house 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 as "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 the introduction of Sharia throughout Nigeria and the eradication of the Western way of life. According to the members of the group, any public and political activity associated with Western values ​​should be banned, including: voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers, and secular education. The government of Nigeria, from the point of view of Boko Haram, is "corrupted" by Western ideas and consists of "non-believers", even if the president is formally a Muslim, therefore it must be overthrown, and the country must be governed on the basis of Sharia laws that are stricter than those in force in the northern states of Nigeria.

In 2009, an attempted insurgency was launched, the purpose of which was to create an Islamic state in the northern part of Nigeria, governed by Sharia law. However, he was suppressed, the Maiduguri base was stormed, and Mohammed Yusuf was arrested by the police and later died under unclear circumstances.

April 14, 2014 - a group kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from a lyceum 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 in the territory under its control.

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

The bulk of the Boko Haram militants are representatives of the Kanuri people; despite frequent attacks 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 Fulbe languages ​​are widely used in the movement.

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

Funding sources 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 swore allegiance to the Islamic State* changing their name to " West African province of the "Islamic State"» (Islamic State’s West Africa Province, ISWAP).

The difficulty in the fight against this group is represented by a number of factors. Along with the classical 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 eliminates the ability of a corrupt and weakened state mechanism to actively, organized resistance.

Although, I must say, there has been a long-standing discussion among analysts why the large Nigerian army turned out to be so weak, especially when recalling 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 militants of Boko Haram are opposed by about 35 thousand troops of 4 states (Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon). But despite the significant numerical advantage, these forces are clearly not enough. Also, in March 2015, the African Union supported the creation of a regional association to combat 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 participates to a limited extent in the fight against Boko Haram. A small contingent of troops is deployed in Cameroon, and several dozen "Green Berets" (US Army Special Operations Forces) have been sent to Chad and Nigeria to train the armed forces of these countries. The United Kingdom also provides assistance at approximately the same level.

Regarding the global danger of Boko Haram for the entire continent (in the context of the general Islamization of Africa), there is no consensus. 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 just try to conserve the situation, at one moment it may turn out to be too late. Pessimism is also added by the absence of strong players in this field. Ironically, once the most developed and powerful states of the continent, they themselves are the sources of the greatest danger. Torn apart, Libya is the epicenter of the Maghreb instability, Egypt is mired in the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and militants in the Sinai Peninsula, Nigeria is unable to cope with its own demons, and South Africa is no longer the powerful “African Lion” that hit the world with economic growth.

*Organizations recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia

About the origin of terrorism in Afghanistan

About the formation of the origins of ISIS in Iraq