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April 10, 2020

Nigeria
Case Not Quite Closed on the Assassination of Nigerian Salafi Scholar Shaikh Jaafar Adam

While at prayer on April 13, 2007, the prominent Salafi scholar, Shaikh Jaafar Mahmud Adam, was assassinated at his mosque in Kano. At the time, the murder made a deep impression on mainstream Muslims, many of whom revered Adam. The murder took place in the final days before the 2007 presidential elections, and many observers, including those at the U.S. embassy, thought that the murder was somehow related. But it now seems more likely that Adam was assassinated by a vengeful former member of the Nigerian Taliban. His murder was an early manifestation of the deadly battles among Boko Haram’s competing factions that continue up to the present.

A man cycles past the Al Ansar mosque in Maiduguri. Four red and white minarets are visible around a green dome topped with gold. Person-sized arches line the one-story building around the dome and minarets.

November 21, 2022

Diplomacy and International Institutions
Diplomacy Debrief: COP27, ASEAN, and G20 Summits

President Biden just completed an important diplomacy tour with stops at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Ca…

Play COP27 Meeting

March 8, 2022

Nigeria
Nigeria’s Struggle for Gender Equality Gathers Pace Amid Protests

Today’s announcement by the Nigerian lower legislative chamber partly rescinding last week’s decision to throw out of five key gender-equality bills is a significant victory for women’s rights advocates in the region. It is also evidence that well-coordinated political pressure by civil society organizations can produce real change.

A Nigerian woman holds a placard during a protest for women’s rights.

May 13, 2021

Middle East and North Africa
How Evictions in Jerusalem Led to Israeli-Palestinian Violence

Tensions over Israeli treatment of Palestinians in Jerusalem have spurred the worst violence between the two sides in years, but the eruption seems unlikely to prompt a strong international reaction…

November 19, 2020

Nigeria
Nigerian Security Forces and the Dangers of a Violence-First Approach

On October 20, 2020, Nigerians watched in horror on social media as men suspected to be members of the military opened fire on peaceful #EndSARS protesters—a movement responding to a litany of abuses by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

A pair of military officers are seen walking towards a group of young men on the street in Nigeria. One man has both arms raised.