Fragility and Insurgency as Outcomes of Underdevelopment of Public Infrastructure and Socio-Economic Deprivation: The Case of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin

2020 ◽  
pp. 154231662095018
Author(s):  
Robert A. Tayimlong
Keyword(s):  
Public Infrastructure ◽  
Economic Deprivation ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Lake Chad Basin ◽  
Role Of Religion

2019 marked 10 years since the beginning of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria—a violent conflict that later spilled over to Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, killing over 37000 people and displacing 2.6 million. For over a decade, researchers and policy makers in peacebuilding and development have been trying to understand the drivers of conflict in order to find lasting solutions. Whilst violent conflicts rarely have straightforward explanations, the narrative on the Boko Haram insurgency has been somewhat reductionist, largely addressing the role of religion, and to a lesser extent, other drivers. Moreover, a lot of the literature has focused on Nigeria, for the obvious reason that it was the birthplace of Boko Haram and the epicentre of its activities. As a result of the disproportionate focus on Nigeria, data on the conditions in the affected regions and provinces of Chad, Cameroon, and Niger that facilitated the regional spill over are very minimal. To fill the gap, this article examines the role of the underdevelopment of public infrastructure and socio-economic deprivation as underlying drivers of the insurgency in all four affected countries. Complemented by data from secondary sources, the article builds on primary evidence from field observation, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions in Borno State of Nigeria, the Lake Province of Chad, the Far North Region of Cameroon, and the Diffa Region of Niger, to establish the link between infrastructural development gaps, illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty and the Boko Haram insurgency.

Bolstered ISWAP will stretch Nigerian army resources

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Medium Term ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Lake Chad Basin ◽  
North Western

Significance In recent months, ISWAP has apparently seized large amounts of military weapons and equipment from the Nigerian military, including heavy armour, and strengthened its control of seized areas. With a raging banditry crisis in the north-west dividing its attention, the army is on the back foot against both ISWAP and the Abubakar Shekau-led Boko Haram faction in the Lake Chad Basin. Impacts ISWAP’s funding will likely remain locally based over the short term, but concerns will grow over increasing international links. Shekau’s Boko Haram faction is less potent currently but remains a serious threat over the short-to-medium term. Minimal reported clashes between ISWAP and Boko Haram fighters indicate both are mainly occupied with attacking military targets for now. Scrutiny will grow over the alleged role of Ansaru, a small group of al-Qaida-linked former Boko Haram fighters, in north-western violence.

Jihadist Insurgencies in the Sahel

2021 ◽  
pp. 568-586
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
Communal Violence ◽  
Governance Model ◽  
Lake Chad Basin ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Sahel Region ◽  
Local Levels

Over the last decade, jihadist violence has expanded and intensified throughout the Sahel region. Jihadi groups, including Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), Katiba Macina, and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), have established strongholds in many places in the central Sahel, as well as in and around the Lake Chad Basin. As they strengthen their presence, Sahelian jihadists have introduced new changes in local social relations and practices, experimented with new forms of governance, and attempted to insert themselves into the local political economy. Yet, as they gain ground and conquer new spaces, their governance model has also shown its limits: their presence has increasingly fueled deadly communal violence, and infighting among jihadi groups has become recurrent and deadly. This chapter analyses the factors and dynamics behind this surge of jihadi violence in the Sahel. It attempts to situate the global jihadi discourse within the spectrum of Islamic ideologies and discourses and elaborates on the dynamics, both at the state and local levels, that have favored the emergence of jihadi groups.

scholarly journals Desiccation of Lake Chad as a cause of security instability in the Sahel region

GeoScape ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kateřina Rudincová
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Chad Basin ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Lake Chad Basin ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Sahel Region

AbstractThe Lake Chad basin is one of the most unstable regions in Africa. The lake itself has shrunk and nowadays it covers less than 10 % of its area in 1960. These environmental changes have wider geopolitical consequences in the whole region, which encompasses countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Therefore, it seems that environmental threats may act as the detonators for larger political conflict as well as for a struggle for land and may cause growing instability in affected countries. The region is fragile, owing to the fact that several terrorist and Islamist groups are operating there. The most serious threat in the Lake Chad basin is militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which is based in north eastern Nigeria, but it is also active in neighbouring countries. As a result of both ecological changes and security threats, people are losing their traditional sources of income from herding and it is likely that there will be large waves of migration from the area. The paper focuses on the environmental challenges in the Lake Chad basin and their effect on the security in the region. The main attention will be paid to the strategies and actions of militant terrorist groups such as Boko Haram that will be analysed in the wider regional geopolitical context.

scholarly journals The Religious Teaching and Women’s Sexuality Construction

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-118
Author(s):  
Z. Ghorashi ◽  
◽  
E. Merghati Khoe ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Health Centers ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Sexual Practice ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Religious Teaching ◽  
Role Of Religion

Objective: In Iran, sexual understandings are strongly determined by religious teaching among women in particular. The aim of this study was to determine the role of religion on Iranian women’s sexual practice evolution. our purpose was to detect women’s individual conceptualization of Islamic Shiite principles and their practice upon these conceptualizations. Design and Method: In this qualitative study, 52 married women in their reproductive age were interviewed (n=4) and participated in eight focus group discussions. They were selected from public health centers in Rafsanjan. Emerged data from the interviews and focus group discussions were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Findings are categorized in three major themes: “unconditional obedience”, ”inconsistency between obedience and virtue”, “misunderstandings”. Conclusions: Religious teaching has a basic and comprehensive role in sexual behavior construction and sexual health of women. However, occasional inconsistency between believes, learning and sexual expectations, practices and situations would lead to jeopardize the psychological and somatic health of women. Misunderstandings have essential role in making such problems.

scholarly journals An Assessment of Religion, Peace and Conflict in the Post 1991 of Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-614
Author(s):  
Getahun Kumie Antigegn
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Religious Conflicts ◽  
Peace And Conflict ◽  
Ethiopian Government ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
Role Of Religion

Religious violence has become increasingly relevant in political and academic discourses. Because of the revival of religions, the contemporary world cannot be understood without accounting for the role of religion and religious organizations in peace and conflict, including the case of Ethiopia. The purpose of this article is to examine the role of religion in peace and conflict in the post 1991 of Ethiopia. Methodologically, the paper employed qualitative research approach by relying on secondary sources of data. The findings of the research revealed that Ethiopia has many positive assets that have to be exploited fully and critically including the role of the Inter-Religious Council. The religious policies of the present Ethiopian government are remarkably different from any of the previous ones with regard to the measure of religious freedom they provide. Paradoxically, one may wonder why is it at this time, where religious freedom and equality of religion are guaranteed, we are witnessing increased tensions and violent religious conflicts in contemporary Ethiopia. Inter-religious relations in Ethiopia have been peaceful and tolerant for long period. However, the rise of inter-religious conflicts in recent decades is taking place. Generally, in contemporary Ethiopia religion is used both as an instrument for producing conflict in certain circumstances and as a powerful resource for peace and transformation of conflict in the society. On the whole, identifying the role of religion in conflict is a very complex task to accomplish, as there are multiple variables to be well-thought-out.

scholarly journals National Interests and Regional Security in the Lake Chad: Assessing the Multinational Joint Task Force

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Ifeanyichukwu Micheal Abada ◽  
Charles Akale ◽  
Kingsley Chigozie Udegbunam ◽  
Olihe A. Ononogbu
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Security Architecture ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
Chad Basin ◽  
Joint Task ◽  
Lake Chad Basin ◽  
Joint Task Force

This article assessed security architecture for counter-insurgency against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB). The paper diagnosed the impact of conflicting national interests of contributing nations on the performance of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as a regional security architecture in the LCB. Some scholars and analysts cite corruption, historical contradictions among LCB members, poor funding, and complex nature of the insurgency, as factors responsible for failure of counter-insurgency operations in the LCB. Others contend that resource geopolitics, linguistic differences, and hegemonic politics have impacted negatively on the capacity of the MNJTF to decimate terrorists in the region. This is a qualitative study that draws from the Fund for Peace, International Crisis Group (ICG), Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), and research literature dealing with national interest and military alliances, while using content analysis to argue that conflicts in national interests, more than any other factor, have hampered the collaborative efforts of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and weakened the capacity of the MNJTF to engage in robust counterinsurgency against Boko Haram in the LCB.

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