USA Africa Dialogue Series - Designating Boko Haram as a Terrorist Organization not yet a good idea

Friends --

Many thanks to Pastor Akande for this important posting.  In the spirit of debate, please find my testimony before the House Subcommittee on Africa last July, in which I argue the opposite -- that it would NOT be helpful to designate Boko Haram a terrorist organization at this time.

The reason is that designating Boko Haram as an FTO puts little additional tools in the hands of the US government that it does not already have.  The only tangible benefit is that the Justice Department could seize Boko Haram assets in the US, of which it likely has none.

Meanwhile, giving Boko Haram the FTO designation will hand it a public relations victory, and play right into its objectives of trying to further ignite religious tensions in Nigeria, attract more disaffected youths to the movement, and also lump the moderates in the Boko Haram movement -- who have been trying to make peace overtures to the government -- alongside the hardliners.  Any Nigerian peace NGOs trying to work with anyone remotely connected to Boko Haram would not be eligible for funding.

The Obama administration has a smarter policy:  designate the individual hardliners as terrorists, like Shekau, and so try to divide them from the broader movement and its part-timers.  This has strengthened the hand of NSA Dasuki's response to the crisis:  trying to talk with the moderates while going after the hardliners, which opens the possibility of breaking the movement apart against itself.  It is better to give these efforts more time to see if they gain any traction over the next year.  If they fail, and if Boko Haram shows increasing involvement in regional anti-state movements as in Mali, then FTO might be worth the cost.

The Nigerian government must, however, absolutely investigate all attacks and provide compensation to the Christian communities that have been attacked -- and to the Muslim ones as well.  In addition to Boko Haram, other Islamist and Christian militias have committed atrocities that must be brought to justice.

Best,

Darren