19 Ağustos 2014 Salı

Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab: Implications for the West and Africa



Since African countries gained independence, most African countries have failed to establish effective government institutions to provide better services of their citizens. Many African countries have faced a number of serious challenges, including poverty, mismanagement, underdevelopment, conflicts and corruption. Structural problems of Africa such as wars and conflicts have damaged political and economic growth in Africa. After 2000, a new social and political transformation has emerged in African societies. The new radical organizations have began to play more active role in shaping political, economic and foreign policies of the African governments. The emergence of the new radical organizations has also posed new threats for the African countries and the strategic interests of the West. Particularly, the Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia have become growing organizations since 2000.

Nigeria and Somalia are the two important countries in the region of the Sub-Saharan Africa. While Nigeria is a strategic country producing oil, Somalia is a gateway for the Red Sea and the Arabic Peninsula. Both countries are of high importance of the strategic interests of the West. Since African countries gained independence, the international actors have not lost their interest in the strategic countries of Africa, such as Nigeria and Somalia. Though Nigeria and Somalia have significant natural resources, they have faced significant challenges, such as poverty, mismanagement, military coups, and the activities of the radical organizations. The attacks and policies of Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia not only threaten peace and security in these countries, but also posed new threats and challenges for the West.

The first and the most important threat for the West emerged by Boko Haram and al-Shabaab is that they have threatened economic interests of the Western companies in African countries. The second threat is that the radical organizations have rejected the legitimacy of the governments and attacked the official buildings of the government. However, the West has provided economic, political and military support for the governments of Somalia and Nigeria to keep the friendly regimes in power. The collapse of the friendly regimes in power would create a number of significant new threats and challenges for the Western powers. The third threat is that radical organizations also damage strategic collaboration between the neighboring countries. It is necessary to increase economic relations among the neighboring countries to eliminate poverty and underdevelopment. The structural problems of Africa, including poverty, corruption, mismanagement, and underdevelopment have led to the emergence of social divisions and the marginalization of the society. Changing new security dynamics in Africa after the 9/11 attacks have also contributed to the increasing power of the radical organizations in Nigeria and Somalia.   

There have been internal, regional and international dynamics forcing the group of al-Shabaab. More significantly, internal divisions, long-standing war and conflicts, clan conflicts and poverty are the most important reason for the increasing power of the Al-Shabaab in Somalia. In addition, the intervention of outside actors in the internal affairs of Somalia and neo-colonial policies of the Western powers towards Somalia are making contribution to the growing of the al-Shabaab in the region. The failure of an effective central government has become one of the most important factors behind the emergence of al-Shabaab. 

It can be argued that internal dynamics are the most important factors forcing the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Economic development, creation of job opportunities and development of infrastructure in Nigeria and Somalia can be a strategic solution to eliminate the radical organizations. Without solving internal challenges in Africa, the violent attacks of the radical organizations in Nigeria and Somalia would not have been stopped and they would continue to gain their legitimacy in the society. It can be said that poverty, corruption, underdevelopment are the most important factors creating and strengthening the radical organizations in Africa. Furthermore, the oppressive policies of the former colonial powers in Africa paved the way for the destabilization of political and economic stability in most African countries. The legacy of colonialism is still fresh and being a huge dynamics on the birth of radical organizations. For instance, Britain, Italy and France were actively involved in political affairs of Somalia and established their own political and economic systems in the country and created a complicated political system in Somalia. The complexity of the colonial administration in African countries created in the 19th and the 20th centuries has also continued to destroy relations between the African countries. 

The both radical organizations have shaped their identity according to the social, economic, political and religious structure of their countries. The main aim of the Boko Haram and al-Shabaab is not to support Islam or to spread over the religions. The aims are especially political not religious motivation. The radical organizations have a strong intention to exploit the religions to recruit the supporters and to gain legitimacy through the exploitation of the religions. Therefore, the both groups do not have Islamic identity. The both groups fight against the governments and aim to topple the existing governments and establish a new state. There has been a struggle for power among the different powers or tribes in Nigeria and Somalia to gain control over the state and benefit more from the strategic resources of the states. 

There have been questions in analyzing the activities of these radical groups in the West. Biased analyzes and comments on the radical organizations in Africa made mostly by the Western thin tanks and scholars have reduced the credibility of the academic analyses in the West. The West needs to understand the origins of the radical groups and the internal dynamics of these countries. The definitions of the West on the radical organizations include prejudices. For instance, the most Western think tanks and scholars have used the definitions of “militant Islam”, “Islamic Terror”, and Islamic Terrorist Organizations” to depict the groups of Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. Especially, the 9/11 attacks on the US have brought significant changes in African politics. After the attacks, many African countries have adopted security-oriented foreign and security policies as a result of the pressure of the US and the UN and the number of the academic publications including the biased comments and analyses regarding the religion of Islam has begun to increase.  These prejudiced approaches have weakened the credibility of the Western scholarship in the world. It should be noted that terrorist organizations do not have any religious identity and they only carry out their missions through violence to reach their aims.       



Al-Shabaab: Origins, Causes and Dynamics



The original name of the group of al-Shabaab is “Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (HSM)” meaning “Mujahedeen Youth Movement” in Arabic, shortly known as “al-Shabaab”, meaning “The Youth”. The group was established in 2004 as the militant wing of the Union of the Islamic Courts (UIC). The group particularly targets the government buildings of Somalia, the military troops of Ethiopia, the African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the international peacekeeping operations deployed in the country. The group also attacks on the strategic interests of the West in and out of Somalia. Importantly, it particularly threatens Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and the countries that have sent soldiers to the AMISOM. In March 2008, the US adopted the group of Al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). In February 2010, the group announced that it merged with Al-Qaeda.[1]
 
With the official merging with the al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab has developed a global vision and increased its popularity in East Africa and in the world. Particularly, the group had a nationalistic view in the early years of the group. The collaboration between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab in the beginning of 2010 provided a more dynamism for the group.[2] According to Rob,[3] the partnership with al-Shabaah has increased the sphere of influence of al-Qeada, while al-Shabaab has strengthened its legitimacy and financial structure with this partnership.  Al-Sabaab did its first attacks outside of Somalia in Uganda in July 2010, killed more than 70 persons. It is important to note that Uganda was the first country sending its troops and has maintained the largest military troops at the AMISOM since July 2013. Its first attack on Uganda also showed that the group has developed a more global vision to gain support and legitimacy. 

The international community has paid a great deal of attention of the activities of the Al-Shabaab after it attacked the civilians at a shopping mall in Nairobi in September 2013, killed 59 persons. Al-Shabaab claimed that the group targeted the civilians in Kenya due to the fact that Kenya intervened militarily in the southern Somalia in October 2011 and also it has the four thousand Kenyan soldiers in Somalia working within the framework of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).[4] After this attack, al-Shabaab became more apparent and gained more recognition in East Africa and in the world. Hasan Aweys is the spiritual leader of the group, who was a colonel during the regime of Siad Biarre and fought against Ethiopia in the 1970s. Ahmed Abdi Godane has served as the leader of the group of Al-Sabaab since 2008. The group has controlled over the most of the southern and central Somalia. The main targets of the al-Sbabaab are to topple the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) established in August in 2012, to take control over the whole country, unite the Somali-inhabited regions in Kenya and Ethiopia, and to create an Islamic state.[5]

Its history can be traced back to the establishment of the Al-Ittihad al Islamiya (AIAI), which was formed to topple the regime of Siad Barre and create an Islamic State. In 1984, the AIAI emerged with the uniting of the two important groups in Somalia, namely Wahdat Al Shabab (Unity of Islamic Youth) and Al-Jama'a Al-Islamiya (Islamic Association). The both groups were created to fight against the corruption, poverty, the regime of Siad Barre and the Western policies in the country. Importantly, the military regime of Siad Barre radicalized and marginalized the Somalis. The Somalis were especially against the increasing strategic partnerships between the Western powers and the regime of Siad Barre. After the AIAI became successful in toppling the military regime of Barre in 1991, it attacked the western region of Ethiopia to annex the region of Ogaden but failed to do it. On 22 September 1991, the AIAI announced itself as an official political party of Somalia and began to work as a political party throughout the country, opened schools, companies, orphanages, and created jobs and recruited many members for its party. It was re-established the group to revitalize within the framework of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).[6] On 23 September 2001, the US put the AIAI on the list of its terrorist organization. It can be said that the AIAI created a political and social environment for the emergence of the group of al-Shabaab. After the regime of Siad Barre, Somalia has not succeeded to establish a central government which maintains lasting law and order. Since 1991, 14 international peace processes initiated by international and regional actors have been failed. The most successful one was that a TFG was created in 2006.  It can be said that the failure of the establishment of an effective central government in Somalia has led to the emergence of al-Shabaab.    

In 2006, the UIC controlled over Mogadishu, the largest parts of the southern and central parts of Somalia. The increasing power of the UIC became a big threat for the TFG, the neighboring countries, and the strategic interests of the Western powers in East Africa. In December 2006, the Ethiopian military troops with the assistance of the US entered the country, defeated the UIC and took control over Mogadishu. The War in Somalia lasted for the two years between the UIC and the Ethiopia and the TFG (2006-2009). In January 2009, Ethiopia withdrew its troops from the country. The military intervention of Ethiopia in Somalia has led to the emergence of nationalistic movements in Somalia under the leadership of al-Shabaah and Al-Shabaah became the only fighting force against the Ethiopian intervention.[7] In 2007, the UIC was divided into different factions, including moderate and extremists. The moderate group joined the TFG under the leadership Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed who became the president of the TFG in 2009. The extremist group fractured into two main factions, namely Al-Shabaab and Islamic Party (Hizbul Islam) ruled by Hassan Dahir Aweys. As of 2006, the UIC has increasingly become a significant political power in south and central Somalia and took full control of Mogadishu. After the withdrawal of Ethiopia, al-Shabaab has become the most effective insurgent force in the country.[8]   

Importantly, the intervention of Ethiopian forces in Somalia made the above mentioned two groups more radicalized and marginalized in the society of Somalia. It is important to underline that the intervention of Ethiopia has played a significant role in emerging the group of al-Shabaab.  The mentioned groups have ambitiously tended to fight against the foreign invaders and in particular Al-Sbahaab has cooperated with different organizations and foreign fighters such al-Qaeda so as to increase its strategic power, throughout the country and in the region.[9] It can be argued that al-Shabaab was born as a loose organization composed of the two important functions. The first one is that it has created its military identity within the framework of the UIC. The second one is that it has aimed to gain a political power through the religious courts. It is like that al-Shabaab will continue to carry out its attacks to destabilize economic and political stability in the country in order to strengthen their power and gain legitimacy until the structural problems of Somalia are solved. Poverty, conflict and war, underdevelopment, corruption have marginalized the society and contributed to the emergence and the reinforcement of al-Shabaab.

References:


[1] The Guardian, "Somalia Militant Group al-ShaBaab Formally Joins al-Qaida", http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/09/somali-al-shabaab-join-al-qaida  (4 August 2014). 
[2] Homeland Security Policy Institute, "Somalia's Al-Shabaab: Down But Not Out", HSPI Issue Brief 22, 2013, p. 12.
[3] Rob, Wise, "Al Shabaab", Center for Strategic and International Studies,  2011, p. 6.
[4] Tristan, McConnell, “5 Reasons Al Shabaab Militants Attacked Kenya”, Globalpost, http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/130926/5-reasons-al-shabaab-attacked-nairobi-kenya-westgate-somalia  (13 August 2014).
[5] David, Shinn, “Al Sbahaab’s Foreign Threat to Somalia”, 2011, Foreign Policy Research Institute, p. 203-4.
[6] Abdirrahman “Aynte” Ali, “The Anatomy of al-Shabaab”, unpublished paper, pp. 11-15.
[7] Rob, Wise, "Al Shabaab", Center for Strategic and International Studies,  2011, p. 5.
[8] Homeland Security Policy Institute, "Somalia's Al-Shabaab: Down But Not Out", HSPI Issue Brief 22, 2013, pp. 3-4. 
[9] David, Shinn, “Al Sbahaab’s Foreign Threat to Somalia”, 2011, Foreign Policy Research Institute, p. 206.

Boko Haram: Origins, Causes and Dynamics


The group Boko Haram was established by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in the northeastern Nigeria. Boko Haram gains its name from the Hausa language meaning that “Western education is a sin!” which constructs the main pillar of the group Book Haram’s ideology. Boko Haram rejects the Western system came to Nigeria during the colonial period and the legitimacy of the Nigerian Government. Its original name in Arabic is “Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad” meaning in English “the Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad.” The current leader of the organization is Abubakar Shekau. Muhammed Yusuf established an educational complex consisted of a school and mosque in Maiduguri in northerneast in Nigeria in 2002. The complex was very active between the period of 2002 and 2009 which provided free education for poor and unemployed youths came from northern Nigeria and the neighbouring countries, including Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. 

The complex also offered a wide range of social programmes for the poor students that aimed to reduce the number of unemployment and poverty in northern Nigeria. Particularly, poverty, unemployment, the widespread corruption and underdevelopment have driven many poor and students for the enrolment of the educational complex of Muhammed Yusuf. The conflict erupted between Boko Haram and the Government in July 2009 after the group rejected the application of a national law related to the use of motorcycle helmets. Most members of the group have motorcycles and do not want to use motorcycle helmets during driving. After this incident, the Nigerian security forces killed seventeen members of the group and the leader of Boko Haram Muhammed Yusuf was arrested and killed in a brutal way by the Nigerian security forces. With the killing of the leader of book Haram, the group changed its strategy to attack the government and launched a massive attack against the Government, including schools, prisons, police stations, government buildings, churches and mosques in the country.  The 2009 conflict between the two forces left 1000 people dead and 700 people wounded in the country.  The group changed its headquarters and moved to Kanamma in Yobe State, near the border of Niger. In May 2013, the Nigerian government declared a state of emergency in the States of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa located in the north where the Boko Haram actively exists.

The genesis of Boko Haram goes back to the Maitatsine uprising of 1980. Muhammed Marwa (died in 1980) known Maitatsine was a controversial preacher in Nigeria, interpreted Islam contradictorily. For instance, he rejected the hadith and the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammed and even the prophethood of Muhammed. He forbad the use of technology such as radio, cars, watches, and bicycles for his followers. In 1979, he eventually declared himself a prophet. He attracted many poor and unemployed youths known as the Yan Tatsine in northern Nigeria in the early 1970s. In December 1980, the Maitatsine movement attacked the police forces and various religious figures in the society, including the Islamic communities in Kano, claimed that Islamic communities were corrupt and politized. The movement also rejected the legitimacy of the Kano State and threatened peace and security of the states in the north.[1]
 
Five thousand people have been killed during the Maitatsine uprising of 1980 and the leader of the Yan Tatsine was killed in this conflict as well. The uprising of 1980 did not wipe out the Maitatsine movement and the movement grew and spread over the different cities in northern Nigeria after this riot. Musa Makaniki became the leader of the Yan Tatsine after the killing of Maitatsine, arrested in 2006 by the Nigerian police.  Violence continued since the death of Maitatsine in 1980. For example, over three thousand people have been died during the conflict in Maidaguri and Kadua in October 1982. In early 1984, one thousand people were killed in a clash in the city of Yola. In 1985, several people were killed in another riot. Some analysts argue that Boko Haram emerged as an extension of the Maitatsine group, had many similarities between the Maitatsine movement and the Boko Haram in terms of their philosophy, objectives, and organizational planning. [2]
 
Ojobi argued that Maitatsine was not Muslim; he was a Christian and had a special mission to distort the religion of Islam and spread violence among the Muslims.[3] The Maitatsine movement had a profound impact on Nigerian political, economic, and social scenes in the 1980s and still it has continued until today. Around ten thousand people, including the members of the Maitatsine movement, the Nigerian army and police were killed during the uprisings of the Maitatsine. Second, the government increased its control over the religious activities in northern Nigeria. Third, the riots in the north marginalized and stigmatized the Muslims in particular, and the whole society in the northern Nigeria in general[4]     

The president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan claimed that Boko Haram killed over twelve thousand people and left eight thousand people injured and crippled since 2009.[5] The group’s first attack on the international community took place on the UN building in Abuja 26 August 2011, killed 21 people and 73 injured. The group captured over 250 girls in April 2014 from the Government Secondary School in Chibok in Borno State. Though the Nigerian Government has deployed about 20,000 troops to rescue the abducted girls from Boko Haram, it has not been rescued yet. After the incidence of the abduction of the Nigerian girls, the international community has paid more attention of the group of Boko Haram. Boko Haram has not only challenged the legitimacy of the secular state but also destabilised peace, security and stability[6] and threatened the Western interests in the country.

There was the Bornu Empire (1380-1893) prior to British colonial period in the current region of north-eastern Nigeria. The majority of the population during the period of the Bornu Empire was Muslims and known as Kanuri-Muslims. The Kanuri people are an African ethnic group living in the territory of the Bornu Empire and the most of whom today speak the language of Hausa and Arabic. The geographic areas of the Bornu Empire laid into the southeast Niger, western Chad and northern Cameroon and the Kanuri-Muslims today still exists in these places. With the beginning of the British colonial history in Nigeria in the 1900s, the Kanuri people increased living in this region their loyalty to the Bornu Sultanate and founded a Nigerian political party in 1954 called the Borno Youth Movement that aimed to fight against the colonial power of Britain and establish a local administration in the region.[7] Many Kanuri people in northern Nigeria sympathized and supported the members of Boko Haram, believing that the group is fighting against the corrupt authorities and the leaders who have cooperated with the former colonial powers for their own self-interests.
It is important to underline that Nigeria is among the poorest countries in the world despite the fact that it has vast natural resources. Especially, poverty and deprivation in the northern Nigeria is extremely deeper than the south. In addition, unemployment, underdevelopment, maternal and infant mortality rates in the north are higher than the south. Importantly, the level of participation of the political mechanisms in the north is very low. Brutal and unjust policies of the State of Plateau against the Muslims and Islam living in have led to the emergence of irritation against the State in particular and the Federal government in general.[8] According to Boko Haram, politics in northern Nigeria especially and in the Federal Republic of Nigeria generally have been controlled by corrupt politicians and therefore corrupt institutions of the government have failed to serve for the citizens of Nigeria. 

Brutal and inconsistent policies of the security services have marginalized the poor people and unemployed youths throughout the country. Extreme poverty, the high unemployment rate, and underdevelopment are the result of the corrupt administration in the country. The organization particularly emerged to stop the widespread financial and moral corruption cross the country and to create a new political system based on the Islamic law which aims to create a good society. Book Haram believes that the elite created by the Britain during the colonial period are spiritually and morally corrupt and they only focus on their own self-interests rather than the interests of the Muslim community.[9] In 2010, the US announced it a terrorist organization. The president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan also declared it a terrorist organization. The organizations’ main targets to attack are especially the government buildings and Nigerian security forces but the organization has expanded its targets to include public places, schools, churches and even international institutions since August 2011. For example, it bombed the UN in Abuja in August 2011, twenty-three people killed.   

Islam and Christianity are the two dominant religions in the country. The genesis of the conflict between Boko Haram and the Nigerian Government is not religious, but it is political. The religion of Islam is exploited by both the Federal Government and Boko Haram. Both sides misrepresent the religion of Islam and the Islamic community. The attacks on the mosques and churches made by Boko Haram showed that the group does destabilize the unity and solidarity and threaten peace, security and stability cross the country.[10] It can be argued that the main purposes of the conflict between the two are to control over the natural resources and the political power of the country rather than creating an Islamic State in the country.

References:


[1] Niels, Kastfelt, “Rumours of Maitatsine: A Note on Political Culture in North Nigeria”, African Affairs, Vol. 88, No., 350, (Jan., 1989), p. 83-4.
[2] Abimboloa Adesoji, “The Boko Haram Uprising and Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria”, Africa Spectrum, Vol. 45, No., 2 (2010), p. 96-8.
[4] Niels, Kastfelt, “Rumours of Maitatsine: A Note on Political Culture in North Nigeria”, African Affairs, Vol. 88, No., 350, (Jan., 1989), p. 84-5.
[6] Abimboloa Adesoji, “The Boko Haram Uprising and Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria”, Africa Spectrum, Vol. 45, No., 2 (2010), p. 96.
[7] Akinola, Olojo, “Nigeria’s Troubled north: Interrogating the Drivers of Public Support for Boko Haram”, Research Paper, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – the Hague, 2013, p. 4.
[8] Andrew Walker, “What is Book Haram”, Special Report, United States Institute of Peace, 2012, pp. 13-14.
[9] Ibid. pp. 1-7.
[10] Akinola, Olojo, “Nigeria’s Troubled North: Interrogating the Drivers of Public Support for Boko Haram”, Research Paper, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – the Hague, 2013, p. 7-9.

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