Nigeria Launches Airstrikes Against Militants

The Nigerian military has begun operations
against the Islamist militant group Boko
Haram, using fighter jets and helicopter
gunships. Thousands of people have died in
Boko Haram attacks and associated
sectarian violence in recent years.
However there are some doubts over the
effectiveness of an all-out military
response.
Declaring a state of emergency in three
northeastern states Tuesday, Nigerian
President Goodluck Jonathan ordered
security forces to take all necessary
action.
"Whoever they may be, wherever they may
go, we will hunt them down, we will fish
them out, and we will bring them to
justice," he said. "No matter what it
takes, we will win this war against
terror."
Nigerian troops are already part of the
international force currently fighting
Islamist insurgents in Mali.
Past experience suggests it will be
difficult to eradicate the Boko Haram
insurgency on Nigerian territory, said
Elizabeth Connelly, assistant head of the
Africa Program at London-based policy
institute Chatham House.
"It is not a change in strategy. It is an
intensification of strategy," she said.
"And there have been a lot of complaints
about the significant use of force in the
past and that it hasn't actually achieved
anything. In fact you've seen a
strengthening of Boko Haram."
Connelly said the military risks being
drawn into a long campaign against an
elusive target.
"These states that are under the state of
emergency all border Nigeria's neighbors -
Chad, Cameroon, Niger - and that goes back
to the question of sustainability and
effectiveness. Is it possible that members
[of Boko Haram] might simply be displaced
and return?"
The north of Nigeria has been neglected
for too long by central government, said
Virginia Comolli, a Nigeria analyst at the
International Institute for Strategic
Studies.
"Because things have been neglected and
downplayed for so long it also means that
the situation has degenerated so much,
that now a military component to the
strategy is inevitable," she said.
Comolli said the high youth unemployment
in northern cities like Kano acts as
fertile ground for extremism.
"They are likely to remain on the streets,
carry on as beggars because that's also
what they do during their so-called
education," she added. "And some of them
join criminal groups and perhaps also more
extremist groups. Not so much because they
espouse the extreme ideology but because
these groups may offer them the chance to
channel their grievances and also to make
some money."
Since an escalation in attacks in 2009,
Boko Haram has targeted Christian churches
and villages. There have been reprisal
attacks on Muslims and allegations of
abuses by the military. Again, Elizabeth
Connelly of Chatham House.
"They are very afraid of Boko Haram and
Boko Haram-related violence," said
Connelly. "But they're also very afraid of
the joint task force that is present in
the northeast of Nigeria. And further to
these abuses of course it's economic
matters, people just cannot go about their
daily lives."
The state of emergency in the northeast
lasts for six months. Analysts say the
military operation could take much longer.