'Nigeria: the context for violence' (2006-2013)

[Tom Odom]

Looks like the Nigerian Army played hardball

Nigerian Army Kills 100 at Islamic Mosque
Thursday, July 30, 2009

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Troops shelled the compound of an Islamist sect blamed for days of violence in northern Nigeria then attacked its mosque, killing at least 100 militants in a fierce battle.

Sect leader Mohammed Yusuf escaped along with about 300 followers but his deputy was killed in Wednesday night's bombardment, according to Army commander Maj. Gen. Saleh Maina.

The army was conducting

[davidbfpo]

I am sure the inter-religious communal violence in Nigeria featured in SWJ Blog news summaries; it certainly appeared in the BBC and the odd newspaper report like in The Spectator recently:http://newstaging.spectator.widearea...ill-kill.thtml

This is a rather pessimistic overview:http://www.opendemocracy.net/martin-...cs-of-massacre

The author is:

Martin Shaw is a historical sociologist of war and global politics, and professor of international relations and politics at the University of Sussex.

He ends with:

The repeated massacres of hundreds of people are a challenge not only to Nigeria but to the world.

I fear that real politics mean that this 'challenge' is far from any agenda in the 'world' let alone the sometimes interventionist West, nor more locally. Yes, Hollywood had a role with a Bruce Willis film set in Nigeria and a US SOF intervention against orders; 'Tears of the Sun' see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_of_the_Sun

Now, would AFRICOM be watching such developments - in a country where the USA has a strategic interest and to my limited knowledge no large presence of US citizens?

[Dayuhan]

Now, would AFRICOM be watching such developments - in a country where the USA has a strategic interest and to my limited knowledge no large presence of US citizens?

I'm sure AFRICOM is watching Nigeria, along with many others; the US and the rest of the oil-importing nations have a strategic interest. As is so often the case in Africa, though, it's very easy to say that something must be done and very difficult to say what could be done that would have any realistic chance of success.

[JMA]

I'm sure AFRICOM is watching Nigeria, along with many others; the US and the rest of the oil-importing nations have a strategic interest. As is so often the case in Africa, though, it's very easy to say that something must be done and very difficult to say what could be done that would have any realistic chance of success.

Honesty will indicate the US is not an effective player in Africa. Better leave it to Britain and France and let them cock it up.

Think Munroe doctrine and leave Africa to China.

[Chowing]

According to a recent BBC report, the official policy of the Nigerian government toward the Boko Haram terrorist group is one of “carrot and stick.” A major requisite of such a policy is for the government and Boko Haram to set down together and attempt to understand each party’s position and work toward some sort of compromise. Yet, back on February 23 of this year the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, seemed to express quite another position when he said that the defense commanders would never share a negotiation table with Boko Haram leaders.

So what next?

See complete article at Terrorism In Africa.

[Stan]

I don't know that "carrot and the stick approach" translates into peace talks. It seems to me the question is more "How should the Nigerian govt. deal with the Boko Haram Terrorists?"

I recall reading about a Nigerian request/U.S. offer to train on counter terrorism. If I'm not mistaken there are Nigerian military units already being trained or, even back home.

[Dayuhan]

I recall reading about a Nigerian request/U.S. offer to train on counter terrorism. If I'm not mistaken there are Nigerian military units already being trained or, even back home.

I wonder what the actual content of this sort of training would be. Americans tend to push their definitions of "terrorism" into the mold of "AQ/international Islamist terrorism" whether or not it fits, which of course conditions the approaches used to counter it. I wonder how appropriate that would be to a situation where "terrorism" springs from long-running local sectarian conflict deriving primarily or entirely from local issues.

Possibly because I also live in a country where Americans have interpreted long running local sectarian conflict through the distorted lens of their views on international terrorism, I share KingJaJa's concerns about the prospects for US involvement. I hope we stay out of it.

[KingJaja]

I would be an enthusiastic supporter of US intervention / training if the US had a good track record with counter terrorism against Muslim fundamentalists (Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, anyone?). American advice usually results in tactics that blow problems out of proportion (Algeria).

You can't do an Algeria in Nigeria without Nigeria disintegrating.

The rank and file of the Nigerian Military is from the North and tends to be Muslim (a legacy of British rule). There is a limit to how far a Christian president could go without seriously compromising his grip on power. On the other hand, if the Christian population comes to the conclusion that Jonathan is being targeted by a host of forces sympathetic to Islam (many Christians share that view) then the bonds between the North and the South will be further broken.

Boko Haram presents a unique problem, because unlike the Niger Delta Militants they have unacceptable and unreasonable demands.

Boko Haram hints of a much more serious problem - tens of millions of poorly educated, unemployed youth across the entire Sahel region. They have no future, no-hope and are easy cannon fodder for the latest Islamic zealot. They are known locally as "almajiris" and they have been with us, forever. At least 1 million of them live in one city - Kano (in Northern Nigeria). At least 15 - 20 million live in Northern Nigeria.

The almajiri system works like this: at an early age boys are sent off with a begging bowl to be taught by a local mullah (who passed through the same almajiri system). They learn the Quran by rote in the morning and beg in the evening. They leave quranic school with no marketable skills and a very narrow view of the World.

It is easy to see how Boko Haram could hijack the almajiri system and create an massive army of willing cannon fodder in a very short time.

We saw this coming and warned the Nigerian Government to do something about it (the Nigerian Government was dominated by Northern politicians and generals from 1979 - 1999), yet nothing was done. This problem was ignored because the almajiri provided a steady supply of easily manipulated muscle.

The problem with Sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim World is not "hatred of the US system of Government" or "Terrorism" but fifty years of bad governance, fifty years of unemployment and underinvestment in education and infrastructure. Africom cannot and will not solve these deep underlying problems.

For the first time in Africa, we have a generation that disrespects elders and authority figures (for the right reasons - our elders are liars and embezzlers of public funds). There is also massive disrespect of the instruments of authority (the Nigerian Security forces are even less liked than Boko Haram in MANY parts of Nigeria).

To such people, Osama Bin Laden (this may shock you) is an icon. He is seen as less of a terrorist and more of a Che Guevara type figure. (The ruling elite in the most corrupt and decadent regimes in Africa have strong ties with the West and Osama is the most prominent anti-Western figure in living memory for many of these young Muslim men).

(It is instructive to note that one of the most prominent Niger Delta Militants - Mujahid Dokubo Asari professed admiration for Osama Bin Laden, and the Niger Delta Area is predominantly Christian!).

Nigeria needs to provide employment opportunities and to educate its young men and women. Unfortunately the Nigerian Government neither has the capacity nor the desire to do so (and if the Nigerian Government cannot do it, then neither can USAID).

So a combination of Christian / Muslim violence in Nigeria's Middle Belt, Islamic terrorism and Niger Delta Militancy will eventually dismember the Nigerian State. The resulting states will hopefully, be more ethnically and religiously homogeneous and better adjusted to promote economic growth.

That is Nigeria's future and the US cannot stop it from happening.

[Stan]

I wonder what the actual content of this sort of training would be. Americans tend to push their definitions of "terrorism" into the mold of "AQ/international Islamist terrorism" whether or not it fits, which of course conditions the approaches used to counter it. I wonder how appropriate that would be to a situation where "terrorism" springs from long-running local sectarian conflict deriving primarily or entirely from local issues.

Possibly because I also live in a country where Americans have interpreted long running local sectarian conflict through the distorted lens of their views on international terrorism, I share KingJaJa's concerns about the prospects for US involvement. I hope we stay out of it.

Hey Dayuhan,
I certainly didn't want my post to sound as if this training was going to cure Nigeria's problems with Boko Haram, and, fully agree with you and Jaja having spent over a decade in Sub-Sahara. On the other hand, some basic form of training and assistance doesn't have to translate into a bad thing assuming (ahem) those trained don't turn that training onto the population and lead to an even more corrupt govt and system. Our training of late no longer uses the 1980s cookie cutter and shows more hope at understanding what affects cultural differences have. I may be a little too optimistic though

The problem with Sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim World is not "hatred of the US system of Government" or "Terrorism" but fifty years of bad governance, fifty years of unemployment and underinvestment in education and infrastructure. Africom cannot and will not solve these deep underlying problems.

For the first time in Africa, we have a generation that disrespects elders and authority figures (for the right reasons - our elders are liars and embezzlers of public funds). There is also massive disrespect of the instruments of authority (the Nigerian Security forces are even less liked than Boko Haram in MANY parts of Nigeria).

Hei Jaja,
Great posts and welcome aboard !
It's a shame that so many of us realize what AFRICOM and USAID can't see staring them in the face. Adding a western military element to Nigeria will be a disaster and I agree with you, it is not our fight. I do however see ways that training and assistance can be beneficial. There are many programs that EUCOM provides that have no law enforcement or military twist. I spend a lot of time at schools, academies and hospitals and feel my contributions over the last 15 years have made a difference. Cultural differences are a hurdle for many here and forcing it down their throats won't work as it won't in Africa.

Regards, Stan

[Tom Odom]

I sometimes wonder what nerve gets plucked that causes a government with as many problems as that in Nigeria to want to joust at windmills. I mean they only have an insurgency that is holding them back from truly using their oil resources, a corruption problem that sets regional if not world standards, and let us not forget, the art of the credit card-email scan. In the very best hotel in Abuja, one had to be financially suicidal to even flash a piece of plastic.

But here ya go: Nigeria is insulted by a South African horror film about aliens in Jo Burg makes ganster cannibals from Nigeria look bad.

Lord I miss Warren Zevon...

Tom

Nigeria Wants Apology for Country's Depiction in 'District 9'

ABUJA, Nigeria — One of the summer's biggest blockbusters — a sci-fi morality tale about aliens and apartheid — is not welcome in Nigeria because of its portrayal of Nigerians as gangsters and cannibals, Nigeria's information minister said Saturday.

[carl]

I don't know if this comment relates, but I was talking to a guy in Chad once. He spoke English and was fairly well educated by Chadian standards. He was also the type of guy who wanted to get ahead in the world and make something of himself.

He told me his big dream was to go to Lagos because that was where things happened and a man do something with his life. In N'Djamena, that wasn't going to happen.

That comment struck me because all the westerners I talked to thought Lagos was a hellhole. This guy saw it as the emerald city.

[Tom Odom]

I don't know if this comment relates, but I was talking to a guy in Chad once. He spoke English and was fairly well educated by Chadian standards. He was also the type of guy who wanted to get ahead in the world and make something of himself.

He told me his big dream was to go to Lagos because that was where things happened and a man do something with his life. In N'Djamena, that wasn't going to happen.

That comment struck me because all the westerners I talked to thought Lagos was a hellhole. This guy saw it as the emerald city.

That is hilarious! The Nigerians created Abuja because they could not fix Lagos. Then again I have been to N'Djemena--1984 when it was kind of a minature Khartoum with bullet holes. Maybe your guy planned to open a credit card/loan business--you know to move money that has just been found if someone is willing to front a small service fee

Tom

[carl]

I was last in N'Djamena in 2005 and the bullet holes are still there; and I'm told more have been added since. There was also the crashed airplane on short final. N'Dolo had one of those too, only there you couldn't see it if the Congo river was high. It was next to the sunken boats. Those sunken boats were very useful actually. When visibility was low, you could pick out the sunken hulks easier than the airport, so you made your approach with reference to the wrecks.

What made that comment memorable to me is that really brought home how differently the world is viewed by an African stuck in a place where nothing much good can happen to him. It helped me understand why people keep streaming into those seeming dystopias. They are willing to put up with it for just a slightly better chance.

[davidbfpo]

The desire to reach Nigeria from Chad is also seen in the apparently relentless flow of Nigerians to South Africa - seen as a land of opportunity. The TV documentaries I've seen, most recently on C4, were of Nigerians in downtown Jo'burg, in Hillbrow - a once risque area, now "off limits". See Google: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hil...ne-navbar&cd=1

The South African sci-fi film 'District 9' has some content that has upset the Nigerians, I suspect some comparisons are made between Nigerians and the newcomers. Check the BBC story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8264180.stm and this is a UK review of the film: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/f...-9-review.html

davidbfpo

[davidbfpo]

There are a few threads on Nigeria on other matters, there is not one on its history of military intervention across sub-Sahara, mainly in West Africa and as AdamG id'd today way-back in Angola.

[davidbfpo]

AdamG,

I too was surprised at this discovery and looking at the cited sources I am not totally convinced.

Robert Moss was a skilled Cold War journalist, of decidedly "hard line" views and reliant on sources not normally available, such as intelligence agencies and IMHO the South Africans. There are a couple of strange phrases in his report, for example:

...UNITA claims to have intercepted radio communications in English (the common language between the Nigerians, the Cubans and the MPLA)..

There was no common language, although I understood Spanish and Portuguese are not too apart.

The beegagle story refers to:

..It has now emerged..

Hardly, it refers to a 1977 story by Robert Moss and one solitary photo taken in 1977, which is sourced to un-named 'intelligence sources'. The photo used is actually of Nigerian troops in Somalia, a few years ago.

Without any cited sources Wikipedia's entry on the Nigerian Army refers to:

In December 1983, the new Major General Muhammadu Buhari regime announced that Nigeria could no longer afford an activist anti-colonial role in Africa.

With a few years Nigeria changed that stance, with the large scale ECOWAS intervention(s) and Wikipedia refers to:

Smaller army forces have been previously sent on UN and ECOWAS deployments in the former Yugoslavia, Angola, Rwanda, Somalia, and Sierra Leone.

See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Army

This later quote almost word for word appears in the US Sate Dept. backgrounder on Nigeria:http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2836.htm

[Bill Moore]

In a foot locker I have a lot of historical resources on Africa, but a quick search of the web indicates that Nigerian support from the MPLA was mostly political. If the West didn't constrain their behavior, they may have provided more.

http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/80.htm

Relations with the Rest of Africa

The prevailing perception in Nigeria's foreign policy was that, as predominant the African leader, it should play a bigbrother role in relations with African states. Nigeria was a founding member of the OAU and often channeled major policy initiatives through that organization. Most of its relations with other African states took place outside the OAU framework but were guided by OAU principles. Nigeria's primary African commitment was to liberate the continent from the last vestiges of colonialism and to eradicate apartheid in South Africa. Promoting liberation had grown from a weak and conservative stance during the 1960s to an increasingly firm push after the civil war. This commitment was pursued most actively after Murtala Muhammad successfully backed the Movimento Popular de Libertao de Angola's ascent to power in Angola in 1975 by providing the swing vote in the OAU decision to recognize the MPLA. Nigeria had played a role in the independence of Zimbabwe and in the late 1980s was active in assisting Nambibia to achieve independence of Namibia. In the latter case, it contributed about US$20 million to assist the South West Africa People's Organization in the 1989 elections and other preparations for Namibian independence. The country also contributed financially to liberation movements in South Africa and to the front line states of Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, which were constantly harassed by South Africa. Although Nigeria's armed forces were among the largest in black Africa in the early 1990s, sizable military might has rarely been used in foreign policy.

http://www.mongabay.com/history/ango...an_states.html

Nigeria, which led the OAU in recognizing the MPLA-PT regime in 1975, went on to seek a leadership role in the campaign against South Africa's domination of the region, but Nigeria never forged very close ties with Angola. Nigeria's own economic difficulties of the 1970s and 1980s, its close relations with the West, and other cultural and political differences prevented Luanda and Lagos from forming a strong alliance.

[AdamG]

Not spending alot of time digging into this, but the following was interesting -

(3) Eight Soviet fighters, probably MiG-17s, are reported being assembled in Luanda. These fighters arrived from an unknown source at the end of December. Eight MiGs, type unknown, are expected to be sent to Angola from Nigeria, numerous Cuban pilots arrived during December. The pilots are operating many aircraft now available to the MPLA including a Fokker Friendship F-27. The Cubans will operate the MiGs.

From a report by Henry Kissinger of 13 January 1976 gives an insight into the activities and hostilities in Angola
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/...gleijeses1.pdf

[M-A Lagrange]

Have a look at Angola:Anatomy of an oil state, Tony Hodges, African Issues.
There is at least 3 pages on the problematic of competition between Angola and Nigeria to be Africa biggest oil producer. And why an at war Angola was better than an at peace one for Nigeria.

[AdamG]

I just stumbled upon this and considering how the Angolan Civil War set the stage for South African involvement in the 80s, thought it'd be of interest -

The fact that as many as 5,000 Nigerian troops fought in Angola around 1976-77 may be the most widely-unknown fact in the annals of Nigeria’s very long history of foreign military operations.

http://beegeagle.wordpress.com/2010/...rst-civil-war/

I read IN SEARCH OF ENEMIES as a kid and the Nigerians were never mentioned in it.

http://www.amazon.com/Search-Enemies.../dp/0393009262

Moderator's Note

This originally appeared in South Africa's COIN War and was moved due to it's potential value in a new thread. Original thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=10859&page=3