The United States designated three
leaders of the Boko Haram militant group as terrorists
Thursday in a bid to stem the violence in Nigeria, which has
endured a series of deadly attacks.
The three named by the State Department were Abubakar
Shekau, widely believed to lead Boko Haram’s main Islamist
cell, Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi.
But the US stopped short of putting the group as a whole on
its terror list.
“In the last 18 months, Boko Haram or associated militants
have killed more than 1,000 people,” the State Department
said in a statement, adding that Shekau was the most visible
of the group’s leaders.
The two other men were accused of close links to Al-Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb, which has been designated as a
foreign terrorist organization by the United States.
“Under Shekau’s leadership, Boko Haram has claimed
responsibility for numerous attacks in northern Nigeria, its
primary area of operation,” the statement said, adding that
most of the victims were “overwhelmingly civilian.”
The US designation blocks the men’s “property interests
subject to US jurisdiction and prohibits US persons from
engaging in transactions with or for the benefit of these
individuals,” the statement added.
Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sin” in the
Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria, is believed to
have a number of factions with differing aims, including
some with political links and a hardcore Islamist cell.
Initially, the group said it was fighting for the creation of an
Islamic state in the north of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous
nation and largest oil producer.
But a range of demands by different people have since been
issued, including the release of its members from prison.
Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009, leading to nearly
a week of fighting that ended with a military assault that left
some 800 people dead.
The group went dormant for more than a year before
reemerging in 2010 with a series of assassinations. Bomb
blasts, including suicide attacks, have since become frequent
and increasingly deadly.
Just this week, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for suicide
attacks on churches in Kaduna state on Sunday that left at
least 16 people dead. They also sparked reprisals by
Christian mobs against mosques and Muslims that killed
dozens.
Frustration over the government’s inability to stop attacks by
the group has triggered warnings that more residents could
take the law into their own hands.
Shekau was once thought to have been killed, but re-
emerged in January to lead the group from the shadows.
He appeared on YouTube at the time, threatening more
attacks and saying Boko Haram was responsible for the
January 20 violence that killed 185 people in Kano.
He was seen as the second-in-command of Boko Haram
during a 2009 uprising. The leader at the time, Mohammed
Yusuf, was captured by soldiers and handed over to police.
Yusuf was later killed when police claimed he was trying to
escape, though rights groups have called it a summary
execution.
Born in a farming village also called Shekau in northeastern
Yobe state, Shekau studied theology under local clerics in
the Mafoni area of Maiduguri and enrolled in a government-
run school for Islamic studies.
He is often shown in photos wearing a keffiyeh and seated
next to an AK-47 assault rifle, appearing tense.
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