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Dr. Walid Phares
Nigerian Taliban: Oil & Caliphate in Africa
August 4, 2009
The renewal of violence in the northern provinces of Nigeria brings this
oil producing country to the brink of "Talibanization," threatening not
only the precarious ethnic and religious makeup of the most populous
African state but also the entire region, from Chad to Senegal.
The fight between the now-called "Nigerian Taliban" and the governmental
forces took place this week within a country whose borders are 300 miles
from where President Barack Obama stood inside the Ghana Parliament to
address Africa's "problems." Unfortunately last month, the president
didn't use mention words such as "Taliban,” "jihadists,” "Shariah,” "salafists,”
or any term indicating that Nigeria and 10 other African countries are
suffering from a real invasion, fueled by a totalitarian ideology. That
was a miss that came back to haunt the international public opinion as
dramatic pictures of the bloodshed were disseminated by the news
agencies.
In short, Nigeria is at war with the jihadists, in as much as Somalia,
Algeria, Morocco, Mali, and Chad are, to name a few. But the Nigerian
brand of terrorists is peculiar. It indicates not only that we weren't
giving enough attention to the expansion of the Wahhabi ideology in
sub-Sahara Africa, but it also projects where the next waves of "African
Talibans" will hit inside one of the most explosive countries on the
continent, if not across many borders.
The radical Islamists movements in Nigeria have obviously local issues,
but as with all jihadists worldwide, the local is subservient to the
higher "cause," that is to resurrect the caliphate from China to the
Atlantic Ocean. According the region's experts the spread of salafism in
Nigeria is the result of the irresponsible financial irrigation provided
by the oil rich regimes of the Arabian Peninsula. Wahhabism has been the
most aggressive incubator of madrassas and extreme-Shariah militants
throughout the Sahel for decades.
Nigeria, as a half-Muslim country, didn't escape the spread. Today, the
population of the oil producing country is about 140 million, the single
largest national population on the continent. The Hausa form the
majority of the mostly Muslim north; the Yuroba are the largest to the
southwest and the Christian Ibo are concentrated in the southeast
province of Biafra.
In 1968, a genocidal civil war killed more than a million Ibo who were
claiming self-determination, a la Kosovo, but without obtaining the same
support from the international community. After years of military
regime, civilian rule came back in 1998 but clashes between Christians
and Muslims still left 9,000 casualties, including about 700 killed in
the central part of the country last November. However, the most recent
incidents were initiated by jihadi elements, as Christians and
mainstream Muslims have been sharing power. In 2007 a Muslim president,
Umar Mussa Yarado, succeeded a Christan predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 2002, a jihadi group emerged from the vast network of Wahhabi
indoctrinated militants branding the name of Boku Haraam, which in local
language means "Western education is forbidden." The rapidly rising
militia promotes Wahhabi teachings and emulates the Taliban methods by
waging terror in the northern provinces, 12 of which already apply some
form of Shariah laws.
The Boku Haraam, like the Somali now-defunct Islamic Mahakem, and their
successors Shabab al Jihad, wants to establish a total Shariah state
throughout Nigeria, regardless of the fact that the southern half is
Christian and Animist. Hence these self-declared Taliban of Nigeria,
have two strategic tasks: First wage a "jihad" inside the Muslim
communities of the north, mostly the Hausa tribes, to defeat the
seculars; and second, wage an "Islamist jihad" against the rest of the
non-Muslim ethnicities, principally the Yoruba and the Ibo, to establish
a greater Emirate of Nigeria.
Their chief, Mohammed Yussuf, who was killed in the recent incidents,
claimed the "jihad" was about local demands, against corruption and for
the strict implementation of Shariah. But pro-government Muslim groups,
such as Nasr el Islam, dismissed his allegations declaring him an
"extremist," a similar scenario as in Somalia and Pakistan.
This week's clashes took place in several locations but mostly in Maydo
Ghori city, not far from the Chad borders. Yarado responded to the Boku
Haraam actions with a strong military campaign leaving hundreds of
casualties among the country's "Taliban." More than 100 children were
freed from the latter's compounds, perhaps avoiding a Beslan like
horror. So far, the government won this round but in my assessment it is
not over.
Grounded in Wahhabi indoctrination throughout the north, and fed by
oil-related funding from the Gulf, Boku Haraam will come back against
with a new leader, and possibly with a future name. What is behind these
Nigerian Taliban are a lethal ideology and oil interests. These
jihadists want to seize Nigeria’s precious commodity, oil, for the
caliphate. If you scratch deeper, you may find the hallmarks of some
players inside OPEC, who want to make sure no one can escape its
domination of the game.
Meanwhile the jihadists’ propaganda war is on. Posting on Al-Jazeera,
the "Islamic Emirate of Egypt" said "our brothers the Mujahidin are
striking back at Western evangelization in Nigeria." Abu Ayman al
Hadrami, of Saudi Arabia, said the Nigerian government is "an agent of
the West, but Islam will win in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Palestine,
Somalia, Iraq, and the entire world." The internationalist jihadists
won't let go, that's the lesson from Africa. |
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