Countering Boko Haram: can a regional approach help Nigeria?
Following the Chibok abductions, in May 2014 the UN Security Council added Boko Haram to its list of terrorist groups under travel, financial and weapons sanctions.
In October 2014, the LCBC agreed on a plan to deploy a Multinational Joint Task Force to counter Boko Haram. Under the terms of regional and global security governance concerning the legitimate use of military force, the proposal needed formal authorization by the African Union and the UN Security Council.
In January, the African Union formally authorized the taskforce for an initial 12-month period. It has called on the Security Council to do the same, and to provide financial and logistical support.
Most recently, the LCBC and partners met in Cameroon in February to hammer out the final operational details.
What would the taskforce look like?
The taskforce would consist of 8,700 military, police, and civilian personnel. It would conduct coordinated military and intelligence operations to prevent Boko Haram’s expansion and to stabilize areas previously under its control. It would also protect civilians, help displaced people to return home and enable some humanitarian assistance.
However, the extent to which neighboring countries would actually be allowed to operate their forces on Nigerian soil is not clear.
Nigeria’s role in the development of a regional approach has been and remains crucial. As a member of both the African Union Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council, Nigeria has slowly allowed the issue of Boko Haram onto their agendas — but it has largely directed the international response.
What happens now?
The UN Security Council will now consider the taskforce proposal. This will include sorting out who will pay for the taskforce and logistical issues.
The Security Council will also consider how human rights would be protected in any UN-authorized counter-insurgency campaign against Boko Haram. Many observers have criticized the Nigerian government’s human rights record during the response so far, and the impunity with which abuses have been committed.
The Nigerian government is gearing up for a major operation against the insurgents and claims it can defeat them within the six weeks before the delayed election. The immediate tasks are to contain Boko Haram from spreading into the wider region, and then to begin making inroads into the significant territory under its control to protect vulnerable civilian populations.
There are deeper issues regarding the conditions that have enabled Boko Haram to flourish, which are beyond the mandate and capacity of any regional intervention force. These include political marginalization and socio-economic underdevelopment in the predominantly Muslim regions of Nigeria’s north, religious radicalization, and wider governance challenges, such as corruption, in the Nigerian polity.
These are issues for the Nigerian people and their governments to address, starting with the rescheduled national elections on March 28.
David Mickler is Lecturer in Foreign Policy and International Relations at University of Western Australia. This story is published courtesy of The Conversation (under Creative Commons-Attribution/No derivatives.
