It’s not “just” Nigeria, to start with. Terrorism in this region has been ongoing for many years. It’s one of Africa’s festering sores and has been more or less continuous.
By PAUL WALLIS
The news that Trump is considering military intervention in Nigeria opens a very much larger can of worms. This proposal is based on the killing and supposed persecution of Christians by Islamic terror groups.
The Catholic Weekly reports a cautious but slightly upbeat response from church leaders, who point out that interfaith coexistence is a major issue. The mix of faiths in Nigeria includes a large Christian minority.
The focus is also misleading. It’s not “just” Nigeria, to start with. Terrorism in this region has been ongoing for many years. It’s one of Africa’s festering sores and has been more or less continuous. Boko Haram and ISIS are in the catalogue of participants. The two groups are directly affiliated.
There’s another issue at the Nigerian governmental level. Nigeria denies “Christian genocide” stating that all groups are attacked by the terrorists.
This is a very different war in many ways. They’re real power groups with basic military capacity ranging across multiple countries. They have fought local national armies with limited success, but they survive.
This is also a truly huge regional area with very fluid borders. It makes cross-border wars in Afghanistan look relatively simple. Boko Haram’s known areas of operation are also obviously linked to economic and “turf wars”. Operationally they can strike across Nigeria in the north-east and the center of the country. They regularly conduct raids and publicize them well.