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What is Boko Haram?
Boko Haram is an Islamic jihadist militant terrorist organisation based in the northeast of Nigeria, north Cameroon and Niger.
Its official name is "The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad", but in the town where the group was formed, the residents dubbed it Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful".
The group does not have a clear structure or evident chain of command.
What does Boko Haram want?
The group's main objectives include enacting Sharia law in Nigeria, but the growing frequency and geographical range of attacks attributed to Boko Haram have led some political and religious leaders in the north to believe that the group does not only include Islamic militants, but also criminal elements and disgruntled politicians.
Boko Haram "is a franchise that anyone can buy into," said Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima. "It's something like a Bermuda Triangle".
History of the group
The group has local origins and was known in 1995 under the name Shabaab, operating under leader Mallam Lawal.
When Mohammed Yusuf took over in 2001, the group gained influence and popularity.
Yusuf officially relaunched the group in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri with the aim of establishing a Sharia government in the Borno State under then-Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
He created a religious complex that included a mosque and a school, where many poor Nigerian families enrolled their children. The centre soon started recruiting future jihadis to fight the state.
By 2009, the Nigerian government found that members of the group were arming themselves. Boko Haram had become a jihadist group.
Yusuf had studied theology in Saudi Arabia and converted to Salafism. He was convinced that the Western education model which prevailed in Nigeria, a legacy of British rule, was to blame for the country’s problems; he pledged to fight against it, and to introduce a model inspired by the Taliban’s Afghan education system.
The group began as a gathering of Muslim followers at a mosque and at a Koranic school. These gatherings were for poor families to send their children to study a different but parallel curriculum to the existing one: they were taught Islamic sciences, prophetic traditions, Koranic commentary, rejection of Darwinian evolution and the like.
The number of these “schools” increased, attracting young adult students who failed in the government universities. They then began calling themselves “the Nigerian Taliban” (Taliban literally means “student of theology”).
Ideology
Boko Haram opposes any interaction with the western world, and also opposes the government of Nigeria as well as the Muslim establishment.
The group says it seeks to purify Islam, but many critics say Islam is a religion of peace and Boko Haram is far from representing it.
Boko Haram members, known for using motorbikes as their primary mode of travel, do not interact with the local Muslim population. In the past, they have assassinated anyone who criticises it, including Muslim clerics.
In 2009, then leader Mohammed Yusuf told the BBC he rejected the concept of a spherical Earth, as well as the Darwinian evolution theory and the concept of rain originating from water evaporated from the Sun. He also rejected the idea of democracy.
Al-Qaeda links
The group's connections with al-Qaeda are not clear, although US officials pointed to a possible alliance with al-Qaeda.
"I remain greatly concerned about their stated intent to connect with al-Qaeda senior leadership, most likely through al-Qaeda in the lands of the Islamic Maghreb," US Africa Command (AFRICOM) Commander General Carter F. Ham stated after the Christmas Day 2011 bombings of churches in Nigeria.
In February 2012, recently arrested officials claimed that "while the organisation initially relied on donations from members, its links with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, opened it up to more funding from groups in Saudi Arabia and the UK.
State counter-offensive
A series of school massacres saw slews of students and teachers killed in the summer of 2013; other massacres were perpetrated throughout the autumn in hopes of starting a civil war. Faced with these massive killings, the army responded with heavy actions against Boko Haram camps.
On May 14 2013, Nigeria declared a state of emergency across the northeast, Boko Haram's stronghold, and launched an offensive aimed at crushing the group's four-year insurgency.
This caused numerous civilian casualties, and turned local populations against the security forces. By the end of 2013, massacres perpetrated by the army had helped to bring together the splinter groups, leading the more radical leaders of Ansaru to return to the bosom of Boko Haram. The cycle of violence was reinforced.
Murder and violence show no sign of abating
Since then, the group has moved to the Takfiri ideology, declaring other Muslims as well as Christians as infidels and unbelievers and allowing their murder without any discrimination whatsoever.
Northern Nigeria continues to see an explosion of massacres, a series of attacks that have killed hundreds and show no sign of abating – culminating in the April 14 2014 abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls. Boko Haram’s campaign of murder and violence shows no sign of abating.
Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer and most populous country, roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.
