Boko Haram has taken credit for a massive kidnapping of schoolchildren in Northwest Nigeria. AFP. It was first suspected that the children had been taken by bandits but Boko Haram claimed credit, greatly reducing hopes that the children would be released soon. Boko Haram has a long history of targeting schools and their name roughly translates to "western education is forbidden". It is unclear how many children Boko Haram took but the number is between 333 and 500, all of them boys from the Government Science secondary school in the city of Kankara. Boko Haram has not operated in the Northwest of Nigeria before and has made inroads in influencing gangs there.
My Comment:
Boko Haram is back in the headlines again. They first gained international attention by conducting a mass kidnapping like this back in 2014 so it's sad to see them back to their old tricks. This mass abduction in a part of the country that was not considered a stronghold for them is very concerning.
There is still some question about responsibility for this attack. The Nigerian government hasn't confirmed it but I tend to think that Boko Haram is telling the truth. It was either them or their affiliates in the region. I'd be shocked if it wasn't them at this point.
It's no surprise that Boko Haram is targeting schoolchildren. The terror group has long despised western education and was founded to attack it. Kidnapping these children is basically status quo for Boko Haram.
Why does Boko Haram hate western education? Because they feel it is un-Islamic. They have a real problem with educating girls and do not like boys to learn about things that are not related to religion. It's important to note that this isn't a reaction to western "imperialism", any attempt to educate children that wasn't in there prescribed way was going to run afoul of Boko Haram.
What is going to happen to these boys? Probably nothing good. The best case scenario is that they are released but I can't see Boko Haram letting them go. And I also don't see anyone being able to afford the ransom for them as well. A military operation could release some or all of these boys but I am not sure that Nigeria can pull that off.
It's unclear how old these boys are but my fear is that they will end up as child soldiers for Boko Haram. They have used child soldiers before and if these boys were in secondary school they were between the ages of 11 and 18, depending on how that works in Nigeria. They are old enough to be trained for war and my guess is that is what Boko Haram will do with them if they are not rescued soon.
It is fairly disturbing that Boko Haram is on the rise again. They had largely been defeated, much like their partners in ISIS, back in 2018. But they have come back in a big way. Far from being defeated Boko Haram is now pulling off major attacks in regions they didn't use to have a presence in. It is not a good sign for Nigeria and I hope that they can find some solution to this problem before it escapes central Africa.
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