On top of the fact that most of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April are still missing, Erica Schwiegershausen reminds everyone that the Islamist militants are also still terrorizing northern Nigeria:
[V]iolence by the Boko Haram has continued to escalate: Human Rights Watch reported yesterday that the terrorist group has been responsible for at least 2,053 civilian deaths in the past six months — a dramatic increase from last year. Recently, Boko Haram fighters allegedly killed over 300 people in the northern Nigeria town of Gamboru Ngala, setting houses on fire and shooting residents who attempted to escape (possibly in response to security forces from the town, which were reportedly going after the kidnapping victims), and are believed to have abducted another 91 people (60 women and 31 boys) from the Nigerian village of Kummabza last month. In the video released over the weekend, the Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for two explosions at a fuel depot in Lagos last month, and The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that the group has killed 44 civilians in the past two days.
After relaying the grim prognosis from Western diplomats who believe the girls may never be rescued, at least not all at once, Colin Freeman addresses “the wider challenge for Nigeria of defeating Boko Haram itself”:
Neither the Nigerian government nor the vast majority of northern Nigerians want the kind of medieval caliphate that the group seeks to impose in return for laying down its arms. Meanwhile, the economic improvements that will drain Boko Harm of its millions-strong recruiting swamp of jobless young men will take decades, not years. So far, the only effective strategy has been to set up citizens self defence groups – known as civilian joint task forces– which have had some success in identifying and chasing known Boko Haram sympathisers from major cities. But even they have done little more than push the threat into the countryside, while critics say their rough brand of vigilante justice will sow the seeds of future problems.
Instead, many observers believe that the most likely solution appears to be an amnesty, which will tempt less committed commanders away with offers of jobs and freedom from prosecution. That might sound like soft terms for people who have killed so many of their own countrymen. But in Nigeria, it is not without precedent. Many believe the group is holding out for a repeat of the amnesty offered to Nigeria’s Delta insurgents, who caused mayhem in the oil-rich south until a deal in 2009.
The Dish 