
Boko Haram in Nigeria
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Sub-Saharan Africa
Significant
Unchanging
Sectarian
Recent Developments
After a peak in Boko Haram–related violence in 2014 and 2015, the number of casualties attributed to the group fell dramatically. The Nigerian military—with assistance from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger—has pushed Boko Haram out of several provinces in northeastern Nigeria, but the group retains control over some villages and pockets of territory and continues to launch deadly suicide attacks and abduct civilians, mostly women and children. In February 2018, more than one hundred students were kidnapped by a faction of Boko Haram known as Islamic State West Africa. They were released a little more than a month later.
The conflict has been primarily contained in the Muslim north, particularly in Borno state, but has displaced millions of people in the region. In June 2018, the Nigerian Army announced that two thousand internally displaced people were to return home. Security forces combatting the militants have also been accused of severe human rights abuses.
Background
Nigeria’s ongoing battle with insurgent groups and continued government corruption threaten the stability and political integrity of Africa’s most populous state. Since 2011, Boko Haram—one of the largest Islamist militant groups in Africa—has conducted terrorist attacks on religious and political groups, local police, and the military, as well as indiscriminately attacking civilians in busy markets and villages. The kidnapping of over two hundred girls from their school in April 2014 drew international attention to the ongoing threat from Boko Haram and the government’s inability to contain it. Following negotiations between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government, brokered by the International Committee for the Red Cross, 103 girls have since been released.
President Muhammadu Buhari, the former military dictator who defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, was elected in 2015 on a counterterrorism platform, but economic and political challenges in Nigeria have complicated the fight against Boko Haram. In addition to the military conflict, continuing uneven distribution of oil revenue, high levels of corruption, and violence in the Middle Belt region pose significant challenges to Nigerian security.
Concerns
Links between Boko Haram and other Islamist groups could further intensify regional security concerns. After the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in March 2015, the United States boosted its military assistance and deployed three hundred troops to Nigeria in an effort to help in the fight against Boko Haram. As the largest African oil producer, the stability of Nigeria is important to regional security and U.S. economic interests.
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Boko Haram in Nigeria

Boko Haram in Nigeria






Background Articles
Haruna Umar Associated Press October 11, 2019
Dionne Searcey New York Times September 13, 2019
Human Rights Watch September 10, 2019
CNN September 8, 2019
Obi Anyadike New Humanitarian August 6, 2019
Christina Golubski Brookings Institution August 6, 2019
Jacob Zenn Jamestown Foundation July 26, 2019
Jacob Zenn War on the Rocks July 17, 2019
Lauren Ploch Blanchard and Tomas F. Husted Congressional Research Service July 15, 2019
Africa Center for Strategic Studies July 9, 2019
Azadeh Moaveni International Crisis Group June 21, 2019
Jacob Zenn Jamestown Foundation June 14, 2019
International Crisis Group May 21, 2019
International Crisis Group May 16, 2019
Saskia Brechenmacher Carnegie Endowment for International Peace May 3, 2019
Linus Unah New Humanitarian April 4, 2019
Philip Obaji Jr. Foreign Policy April 2, 2019
Bulama Bukarti War on the Rocks March 27, 2019
Jacob Zenn Jamestown Foundation March 25, 2019
Center for Strategic and International Studies February 13, 2019
Dionne Searcey and Emmanuel Akinwotu New York Times February 11, 2019
Jibrin Ibrahim and Saleh Bala U.S. Institute of Peace December 19, 2018
Jacob Zenn Jamestown Foundation October 19, 2018
Akinola Olojo Institute for Security Studies October 2, 2018
Ryan Lenora Brown and Ismail Alfa Abdulrahim Christian Science Monitor June 4, 2018
Combating Terrorism Center May 2018
Jacob Zenn Jamestown Foundation May 4, 2018
International Crisis Group April 12, 2018
Stephanie Findlay Agence France-Press April 4, 2018
Vanda Felbab-Brown Foreign Affairs March 30, 2018
Mark Wilson BBC News January 25, 2018
Jacob Zenn Jamestown Foundation December 9, 2017
Sam Wilkins War on the Rocks December 8, 2017
Dionne Searcey New York Times October 25, 2017
Amnesty International September 5, 2017
AFP July 19, 2017
Sarah A. Topol New York Times June 21, 2017
Mirren Gidda Newsweek May 19, 2017
Africa Center for Strategic Studies April 26, 2017
NPR April 14, 2017
Dionne Searcey New York Times March 30, 2017
Dionne Searcey New York Times March 11, 2017
Dionne Searcey and Ashley Gilbertson New York Times March 10, 2017
Voice of America February 2017
Kevin Sleff Washington Post January 17, 2017
Hilary Matfess Foreign Affairs December 19, 2016
Dionne Searcey and Chris Stein New York Times September 16, 2016
Associated Press September 4, 2016
Kate Samuelson Time August 23, 2016
Hilary Matfess Foreign Affairs August 17, 2016
Mike Smith Africa Check
BBC August 14, 2016
Drew Hinshaw, Joe Parkinson, and Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin Wall Street Journal August 12, 2016
Farouk Chothia BBC
Insight on Conflict July 1, 2016
Oluwakemi Okenyodo Africa Center for Strategic Studies June 20, 2016
International Crisis Group May 4, 2016
Andrew Walker Guardian April 4, 2016
Hilary Matfess, Peter M. Lewis, and Nathaniel D. F. Allen Foreign Affairs March 21, 2016
Al Jazeera
Latest CFR Analysis
John Campbell CFR
John Campbell CFR Blog, “Africa in Transition” October 11, 2019
John Campbell CFR Blog, “Africa in Transition” August 6, 2019
Jacob Zenn CFR Blog, “Africa in Transition” May 24, 2019
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" February 25, 2019
John Campbell CFR Article February 8, 2019
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" January 25, 2019
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" December 19, 2018
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" December 12, 2018
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" November 30, 2018
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" November 27, 2018
Jacob Zenn CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" September 25, 2018
John Campbell and Asch Harwood CFR August 20, 2018
Claire Felter CFR August 8, 2018
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" June 19, 2018
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" May 24, 2018
Sherrie Russell-Brown CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" May 11, 2018
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" May 3, 2018
Jacob Zenn CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" April 4, 2018
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" March 28, 2018
Jacob Zenn CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" December 7, 2017
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" December 13, 2017
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" October 12, 2017
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" August 1, 2017
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" July 11, 2017
John Campbell CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" June 15, 2017
CFR Blog, "Africa in Transition" May 8, 2017
Matthew T. Page CFR Corruption Brief July 2016
Mohammed Aly Sergie and Toni Johnson CFR Backgrounder
Jacob Zenn CFR Blog, “Africa in Transition” August 11, 2016
John Campbell CFR Expert Brief May 5, 2016
John Campbell CFR Blog, “Africa in Transition” February 3, 2016
Matthew T. Page CFR Expert Brief January 14, 2016
Paul D. Williams CFR Council Special Report May 2015
John Campbell CFR Council Special Report November 2014
Primary Sources
Department of State July 2017
United Nations January 12, 2017
United Nations July 19, 2016
U.S. National Counterterrorism Center
U.S. Department of State
United Nations Security Council February, 5, 2015
U.S. Department of State January 25, 2015
U.S. Department of State May 21, 2014
U.S. Department of State May 14, 2014
U.S. Department of State