by Eze Eluchie
In the course of the past 5+ years, the West
Africa sub-region has witnessed a steady and sure rise in its profile as a
hotbed of international terrorism fueled by extremist Islamist ideology From
the exploits of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its affiliates in the
southern flanks of the Sahara desert, to the attacks of Boko Haram in Nigeria,
and exploits in Cameroon and Central African Republic, terror has taken root in
West Africa and the sub-region now serves as a pedestal to spread terror across
the African continent and beyond.
Causes:
The descent into the abyss West Africa now
finds itself in was not accidental. There are both short- and long-term causes,
knowledge of which would go a long way towards evolving solutions to stem the
rot. Four key causes are easily discernible.
These are:
·
Traditional Quaranic pupilage system in the sub-region.
·
Dislodgement of terrorists
from their bases in the Middle East
· Overthrow of totalitarian
regimes in North Africa, and
· Disconnect in governance /
Large-scale Corruption
1. Traditional
Quaranic pupilage system in the sub-region – the ‘Almajiri system
A quest into the rise of terrorism in the
sub-region must rightly commence with an understanding of the socio-cultural
foundations which ensure easy and ready availability of millions of highly
impressionable youths willing to serve as foot-soldiers and tools in the hands
of extremist Islamic kingpins.
Dotting the streets of cities and towns
across the northern fringes of West Africa, areas dominated by Muslims, are
hordes of malnourished, beggarly and unkempt children and youths, ranging in
age from as young as 3 years to late teens, who have been handed over, by their
parents/guardians, to Islamic ‘scholars’ (Mallams), for the purposes of
impartation of Islamic knowledge and principles. These youths are forced to beg
on the streets and live off the proceeds of the alms they receive, and in
addition make returns to their respective Mallams.
The Almajiri system is unregulated by State
authorities in the sub-region. Virtually anyone can present himself as a
Mallam, and proceed to impart whatever warped doctrines he desires as ‘Islamic
teachings’. Often times, sexual, physical and other abuse of the children and
youths under the Mallams’ care is quite rampant, and goes on unreported. Under an
environment of abuse, denial and excruciating poverty, these youths mature into
adults with an ingrained distrust, disenchantment and anger towards a society
which looked the other way when their childhood and youth was being stolen from
them. These youths form a limitless recruit-base for terror.
2.
Dislodgement of terrorists from their bases in the Middle East
A natural consequence of the intense efforts
by the international community to root out terrorism from their bases in the
Middle East is the dispersal of such groups to territories where they can
flourish, continue with their lethal pastimes and go on undetected in relative
obscurity. West African States, with their notoriously weak institutional
structures has proven too irresistible and welcoming to Islamist terrorists
dislodged from the Middle East.
3. Overthrow
of totalitarian regimes in North Africa
Totalitarian regimes in North Africa, which
had their own peculiar reasons for tackling extremist Islamist terror groups,
served to protect the northern flanks of West Africa from infiltration by
terrorist elements departing the Middle East, and created a divide between such
foreign groups and whatever local extremist groups that might have existed in
the sub-region.
With the advent of the Arab Spring, which
led to the sack of totalitarian regimes in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, and the
replacement of such regimes by a virtual state of lawlessness, particularly in
Egypt and Libya, West Africa was left exposed and easy prey to terror elements
from its northern borders.
Of particular importance to the spread of
terror in West Africa, was the collapse of the Qhadaffi regime in Libya. In the
twilight days of the regime, Qhadaffi ordered Libya’s enormous armory and
arsenal bases to be opened up to its citizens – encouraging all and sundry to
help themselves to sophisticated weapons, under the illusion that the ‘people
of Libya’ will fight ‘to the very last to defend the Jamahiriya’. Libya’s diverse
and extensive armory flooded the streets of not only Libya, but also surfaced
in such diverse locations as the streets of Timbuktu and Gao in Mali, and
Damaturu and Maidugri in Nigeria’s north eastern areas, in the hands of various
terrorists. AK-47’s, Anti-Tank missiles, Surface-to-air missiles and all
manners of military hardware quite superior to what was available to State
armies in the West African sub-region, were easily accessible and affordable to
terror elements – the West African sub-region was awash with illicit weapons.
4. Disconnect
in governance/Large-scale Corruption
Governments in the West African sub-region
are notoriously weak, characterized by endemic corruption, weak societal and
institutional structures for governance, and near non-existent capacity to
maintain basic security for the lives and property of the citizens and
residents of the sub-region. The absence of central registry for biometric and
population/statistical data, lack of a crime database and national borders so
porous that they exist, in reality, only on the pages of international
geographical texts, renders the sub-region a haven for outlaws and ideally
suited to serve as a refuge to international terrorists and fugitives – Osama
bin Laden actually took refuge in the sub-region for awhile prior to the 9-11
attacks.
The four factors enumerated above, occurring
contemporaneously, have served to position the sub-region where it now finds
itself…as a bastion for Islamist terrorists.
Solutions:
Efforts to address the terror crisis in the
region will naturally take a bearing from the causes enumerated above. The
following three pronged solution, one short term and the other two, long term,
could thus readily serve to stem the emerging trend of the sub-region as the
new frontier of terror:
a. Robust international military response
b. Regulating Islamic “scholars” in the
sub-region
c. Promoting good governance and tackling
large-scale corruption
a. Robust
international military response
The various Islamist terror groups operating
in the sub-region, such as AQIM, BH, Ansaru et al, have been identified as
receiving technical, logistical and other supports from international
terrorists groups across the world, such as Al Qeada, Al-Shabaab, and other
likeminded groups. The more experienced Islamist terror groups from outside the
region have infused practices and weaponry far in excess of what the sub-region
had hitherto witnessed, in the process overwhelming the capacity of the law
enforcement and security apparatus in the sub-region. It is only thus expected
that for any efforts at confronting the Islamist terror groups in the
sub-region to be successful, it must likewise be multi-national and broad-based
in scope. It is counter-productive, and perhaps unfair, to expect any single
State in the sub-region, to solely on its own tackle what is clearly an
international terrorist network.
It is perhaps apt to recollect that it
required a coalition of multi-national forces, under the leadership of the
United States and its NATO allies, to attain the success thus far achieved in
addressing terrorism in the post 9-11 era. A similar multi-national military
response is what is needed to address terrorism in West Africa. The series of
degenerating and insulting comments targeted at some West African States and
their leadership sequel to the insurgent attacks by terrorists in Mali and
Nigeria, by some political figures in the US and some EU-member states and the
media in those countries, is counter-productive and unfortunate.
A robust multi-national military response
backed by sophisticated surveillance and military hardware is imperative in
tackling the terror scourge afflicting the West African sub-region in the short
run.
Long term strategies to stemming the rot
will include:
b. Regulating
Islamic scholars in the sub-region
The practice of all manners of characters
presenting themselves as ‘Islamic Scholars’ and thereafter having authority to
impart whatever ideologies they conceive under the guise of Islamic
indoctrination on youths in the sub-region, simply has to be stopped. States in
the sub-region must evolve uniform criteria and curricular to ensure that
extremist ideologues are routed out of the ‘traditional’ system of pupilage to
Islamic theology. The Almajiri system, under whatsoever guise it exists in the
sub-region, ought to be strictly monitored by specially trained State
authorities to prevent the abuse of the students by their Mallams or other
persons and check any deviant behaviors or attempts to exploit the
instrumentality of religion to whip up anti-social or terrorist sentiments.
A replication of the system of Islamic
education and the close State supervision as practiced by Saudi Arabia will
serve as a worthwhile example States in West Africa can adapt to suit the
economic and social peculiarities of the sub-region.
c. Promoting
good governance and tackling large-scale corruption
At the root of the willingness of youths to
make themselves available for terror related activities is the inability of
their State and society to proffer requisite opportunities, guidance,
motivation and education. Evil, clothed as extremist Islamist terror outfit,
serves to cash in on the vacuum created by bad governance, an absence of hope
and a palpable lack of prospects and vision. Most States in the West African
sub-region are ruled by psychopathic kleptocrats who loot their countries
blind, pauperizing not only their immediate population but mortgaging the
futures of generations unborn.
Large-scale corruption is endemic in the
region and has served to ensure that Public health care, education,
transportation and other expectations citizens reasonably expect of their
governments are ineffective and obsolete, where they exist at all. States in
the sub-region come far short of their roles under the ‘Social Contract theory’
– the youths are thus left as easy prey to whosoever can offer whatsoever, no
matter how transient. The cumulative results of Large-scale corruption as
evidenced in the West African sub-region should ordinarily qualify this scourge
as a crime against humanity punishable under international laws.
Conclusion
Whilst a robust multi-national military intervention will curtail the
activities of terrorists groups in the West African sub-region in the short
term, deepening democratic precepts, promoting good governance and addressing
large-scale corruption in the sub-region will, in the long term, ensure that
the root causes of extremism and terrorism in the sub-region are extinguished
and the tag of the ‘new frontier for terror’ which the sub-region is now being
associated with, ceases.
*first published in the CMG Magazine of Critical Mobilization
Group llc.
Picture: Some of the over 50 (pre-teen and teenage) students of the Federal Government College, Bunu Yadi, killed in an attack by Boko Haram - one of several attacks carried out by BH in Nigeria so far in year 2014.
and an Almajiri class in session
