In retaliation to the ambush, Boko Haram then attacked the nearby towns of Damboa and Nganza, slaughtering an estimated 20 civilians which brings the total number of fatalities in the region, since 2009, to over 1500.
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| Map of Nigeria; Maiduguri top right |
The JTF are a government sanctioned civilian vigilante group and was founded in Boko Haram's birthplace, Maiduguri. Surprisingly, it is comprised of men and women and, despite the inherent dangers, the organisation is completely voluntary. These ordinary members of the community sign up in defiance of the oppression and violence inflicted on their towns by the terrorist extremists, the Boko Haram.
So who exactly are Boko Haram?
Formed in 2001 in the Nigerian city Maiduguri (popularly known as the 'Home of Peace'), the extremist group's primary ethos is to enforce Sharia law and to ban what they deem as Westernisation. Indeed, whilst the group is officially called the Congregation and People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad, they have adopted the snappier name 'Boko Haram' which translates from Hausa as 'Western eduction is sinful'.
Despite escalating tensions and smaller scale attacks, it was another eight years before Boko Haram really demonstrated their extreme power and blood thirst. In July 2009, the extremist group were stopped by security officials on their way to bury a fellow member. Apparently the officials stopped the procession to request that those riding motorcycles wear helmets and tensions quickly escalated, resulting in deaths on both sides. Unfortunately this was the spark to the tinderbox and began the 2009 Boko Haram Uprising which saw violence across the North-eastern states of Nigeria with over 1,000 people killed, 700 of which in Maiduguri alone.
The terrorists have been ruthless in their attacks, launching bloody and brutal assaults on mosques and especially schools in order to spread their message. In July, one such attack sent ripples across the world as news broke of the brutal murders of 46 students during an attack at a boarding school. The children died after being shot or burned alive as they slept.
Following the attack a video was released showing a Boko Haram soldier spitting "Teachers who teach western education? We will kill them! We will kill them all!" The militant continues they will continue to target schools 'until our last breath'. However, he then goes on to say "Our religion does not permit us to touch small children and women." If this was the case, and Boko Haram claimed responsibility, how exactly did these children die?
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| Boko Haram militia |
The organisation is indiscriminate in whom they kill, and an attack in Konduga in early August this year, saw 44 fellow Muslims slaughtered whilst they were praying in their local mosque. The Boko Haram have been critical of Muslims who they call 'soft', complaining they should be more strict with their religion. The town in which they attacked was a simple town filled with farmers.
Many believe the Nigerian government should be pushing for peace talks with the brutal militia as a high proportion of Boko Haram members are the disaffected youth, young men angry with high levels of unemployment and abject poverty. Whilst it may be increasingly difficult to get to the root of the youth's issues with the government, opening up talks will help to clarify what it is that is attracting them to the organisation in the first place. Through tackling these issues it could help stop the expansion of the terrorist group, and perhaps even draw members of the group back into normal society. Either way, drastic action needs to be taken.
The main victims in this war are not the militia or soldiers, but the farmer left unable to work after being attacked at prayers, the mother left mourning the death of her child, the elderly couple left homeless, forced from their homes by the militia, the volunteer JTF shot whilst working on a checkpoint. As always, it is the innocent who continue to be the principal casualty of political war.
Lora.
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