by Isha Sesay
The group also threatened to keep Alice and Leah as their “slaves for life.”: Lindy Lowry, “Boko Haram Sect Vows To Keep Leah Sharibu ‘Slave For Life’,” Open Doors, October 16, 2018, https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/boko-haram-sect-vows-to-keep-leah-sharibu-slave-for-life.
Coalition forces in Iraq have driven ISIS militants from Mosul. Meanwhile, across the border, the Syrian Defense Forces routed them: Jacob Wirtschafter and Karim John Gadiaga, “Africa becomes the new battleground for ISIS and al-Qaeda as they lose ground in Mideast,” USA Today, October 25, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/10/25/africa-becomes-new-battleground-isis-and-al-qaeda-they-lose-ground-mideast/796148001.
More than two million people have been displaced in the region: Conor Gaffey, “Why Are Over 1 Million Displaced Persons In Nigeria Too Scared To Go Home?,” Newsweek, October 12, 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/boko-haram-idps-refugees-nigeria-683001.
numerous reports of women and girls being sexually assaulted and exploited by the very officials meant to protect them: Dionne Searcey, “They Fled Boko Haram, Only to Be Raped by Nigeria’s Security Forces,” New York Times, December 8, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/world/africa/boko-haram-nigeria-security-forces-rape.html.
Radina Gigova, “Nigeria investigates reports that officials raped displaced women,” CNN, November 4, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/04/africa/nigeria-displaced-women-rape-report/index.html.
“‘They Betrayed Us’: Women Who Survived Boko Haram Raped, Starved And Detained In Nigeria,” Amnesty International, 2018, https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/THEY-BETRAYED-US-WOMEN-WHO-SURVIVED-IN-NIGERIA.pdf.
the Trump administration’s repeated efforts to slash foreign aid budgets by up to 37%, though money sent abroad makes up a mere 1% of federal spending: Those who work in the Development sector and many in the State Dept and USAID have been taken aback by Trump adminstration’s limited understanding of the benefits of foreign aid—not only to the recipients, but also for long term security of US and its interests
David Hong, “Trump Plan To Cut Foreign Aid Endangers U.S. Interests,” One Acre Fund, 2018, https://oneacrefund.org/blog/trump-plan-cut-foreign-aid-endangers-us-interests.
Molli Ferrarello, “What “America First” means for US foreign aid,” The Brookings Institution, July 27, 2017, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2017/07/27/what-america-first-means-for-us-foreign-aid.
Marcela Escobari, “How foreign aid helps Grand Rapids, Michigan,” The Brookings Institution, July 11, 2017, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-foreign-aid-helps-grand-rapids-michigan.
At the time of writing there are 6,000 U.S. troops spread across 53 African countries: Caitlin Vito, “Shifting US counter-terrorism strategy plays out in the Horn of Africa,” International Institute for Strategic Studies, June 30, 2018, https://www.iiss.org/blogs/analysis/2018/06/us-counter-terrorism-strategy-horn-of-africa.
Steven Feldstein, “Do Terrorist Trends in Africa Justify the U.S. Military’s Expansion?,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, February 9, 2018, http://carnegieendowment.org/2018/02/09/do-terrorist-trends-in-africa-justify-u.s.-military-s-expansion-pub-75476.
Greg Myre, “The U.S. Military In Africa: A Discreet Presence In Many Places,” National Public Radio, October 20, 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/20/558757043/the-u-s-military-in-africa-a-discreet-presence-in-many-places.
October 2017, when four U.S. soldiers were killed and two others wounded alongside their Nigerien counterparts: Madison Park, “Niger ambush: Timeline of attack that killed 4 US soldiers,” CNN, October 25, 2017, https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/24/politics/niger-ambush-timeline/index.html.
“They are afraid of books and pens”: Words from a headline making speech given by a then 16 year old Malala Yousafzai at the U.N. in 2013.
Fazal Khaliq, “World Malala Day: Extremists are afraid of books and pens, says Malala,” The Express Tribune, July 13, 2013, https://tribune.com.pk/story/576389/world-malala-day-extremists-are-afraid-of-books-and-pens-malala.
Malala Yousafzai, “Our books and our pens are the most powerful weapons,” The Guardian, July 12, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/12/malala-yousafzai-united-nations-education-speech-text.
CHAPTER 3
its population of just under 70,000: “CHIBOK Local Government Area in Nigeria,” City Population, November 7, 2017, https://www.citypopulation.de/php/nigeria-admin.php?adm2id=NGA008006.
four telecom masts: Helon Habila’s short book, The Chibok Girls, The Boko Haram Kidnappings, and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria, Columbia Global Reports, provides an atmospheric account of life in Chibok and the impact of the mass kidnapping on this small mainly Christian community.
Helon Habila, The Chibok Girls: The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria (New York: Columbia Global Reports, 2016).
this area of approximately 1,350 square kilometers: Ola' Audu and Ibanga Isine, “Welcome to world famous Chibok, home of over 250 abducted schoolgirls,” Premium Times, May 10, 2014, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/160455-welcome-to-world-famous-chibok-home-of-over-250-abducted-schoolgirls.html.
Christians, who make up 90% of this community: Ola' Audu and Ibanga Isine, “Welcome to world famous Chibok, home of over 250 abducted schoolgirls,” Premium Times, May 10, 2014, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/160455-welcome-to-world-famous-chibok-home-of-over-250-abducted-schoolgirls.html.
built in the 1940s by American missionaries: from various articles, photographs, plus a host of interviews with Chibok locals and others from northern Nigeria I pieced together the origins and conditions in the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok
Carla Barber, “Nigerian missionaries recall region of stolen schoolgirls,” McPherson Sentinel, May 13, 2014, https://www.mcpherson sentinel.com/article/20140513/News/140519814.
“Our Church & the Kidnapped Girls of Chibok, Nigeria,” Midland Church of the Brethren, http://www.midlandbrethren.org/id24.html.
Gloria Casas, “Church of the Brethren, headquartered in Elgin, hosting Nigerian choir,” The Chicago Tribune, June 19, 2015, http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/lifestyles/ct-ecn-nigerian-chior-elgin-st-0621-20150619-story.html.
Emenike Ezedani, Boko Haram Chibok Girls and All Matters Nigeria Security (Amazon Digital Services, 2015).
“Chibok school falls into ruin,” eNCA, April 4, 2016, https://www.enca.com/africa/chibok-school-falls-ruin.
Michael Daly, “We Built a School in Boko Haram’s Heartland,” The Daily Beast, May 13, 2014, https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-built-a-school-in-boko-harams-heartland.
more than 70% of primary school-aged girls are out of school: it is worth noting that access to reliable and complete information on education and the out-of-school population in northern Nigeria has long been difficult. As a result I have relied on data from a number of sources including reports released by the United Nations and other education focused organizations
E.W., “Boko Haram’s impact on Nigeria: Education in crisis,” The Economist, May 9 2014, https://www.economist.com/baobab/2014/05/09/education-in-crisis.
Chimaraoke Izugbara et al., “Maternal Health in Nigeria: A situation update,” African Population and Health Research Center, 2016, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303752425_Maternal_Health_in_Nigeria_A_situation_update.
Rachel Hatch, “Schooling in northern Nigeria: Challenges for girls’ education,” Education Policy Data Center, 2012, https://www.epdc.org/epdc-data-points/schooling-northern-nigeria-challenges-girls-education.
Temitope Mustapha, “27 percent of girls in Nigeria not in school,” Voice of Nigeria, March 19, 2018, https://www.von.gov.ng/27-percent-school-age-girls-nigeria-not-enrolled.
“Girls’ Education in Nigeria,” British Council, 2004, https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/british-council-girls-education-nigeria-report.pdf.
David Ajikobi, “FACTSHE
ET: Grading Nigeria’s progress in education,” Africa Check, July 16, 2018, https://africacheck.org/factsheets/factsheet-grading-nigerias-progress-in-education.
“Education for the Girl Child in Northern Nigeria,” Africa Check, July 3, 2017, https://africacheck.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/July-info-graphic.pdf.
“UNICEF Targets One Million Girls Enrollment In Northern Nigeria,” Quick News Africa, December 2017, https://www.quicknews-africa.net/unicef-targets-one-million-girls-enrollment-northern-nigeria.
“Nigeria: The situation,” UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/education_2161.html.
Uju Peace Okeke, “Child Marriage: A Breach of Human Rights,” Women’s UN Report Network, August 19, 2013, http://www.wunrn.org/news/2013/08_13/08_19/081913_nigeria.htm.
after the Hebrew woman: “Bible Verses About Tabitha,” King James Bible Online, 2018, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Tabitha.
“100 Bible Verses about Tabitha,” Open Bible, December 1, 2018, https://www.openbible.info/topics/tabitha.
caused by the insurgents in Borno, Yola, and Adamawa states: “Country Profile: Nigeria,” Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2018, http://www.protectingeducation.org/country-profile/nigeria.
CHAPTER 4
The country has faced a “multi-dimensional crisis” in education according to the U.K.’s Department for International Development report released in 2009: Hilary Matfess, Women And The War On Boko Haram: Wives, Weapons, Witnesses (London: Zed Books, 2016) was a critical source of the data used in this section.
more than 450 other girls, plus 70 boys: Talatu Usman, “How Borno Governor caused kidnap of Chibok schoolgirls—WAEC,” Premium Times, May 3, 2014, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/160062-how-borno-governor-caused-kidnap-of-chibok-schoolgirls-waec.html.
Segun Odeleye, “#BringBackOurGirls: WAEC gives details on number of students writing exams at Chibok school,” The ScoopNG, May 3, 2014, http://www.thescoopng.com/2014/05/03/bringbackourgirls-waec-gives-details-on-number-of-students-writing-exams-at-chibok-school.
Governor Kashim Shettima to the BBC Hausa Language Service: Haruna Umar, “Nigeria: Borno schools closed fearing extremists,” Associated Press, March 18, 2014, https://www.apnews.com/4402e43d1571415980bf0e17d4573893.
Boko Haram had attacked the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi: Adam Nossiter, “Islamist Militants Blamed for Deadly College Attack in Nigeria,” New York Times, February 25, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/world/africa/dozens-killed-in-nigeria-school-assault-attributed-to-islamist-militant-group.html.
Joe Hemba, “Nigerian Islamists kill 59 pupils in boarding school attack,” Reuters, February 26, 2014, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-violence/nigerian-islamists-kill-59-pupils-in-boarding-school-attack-idUSBREA1P10M20140226.
“‘Boko Haram killed 29 students and lined up their bodies in front of the hostel’ — Buni Yadi massacre revisited,” The Radar, February 22, 2018, https://www.thecable.ng/boko-haram-killed-29-students-lined-bodies-front-hostel-buni-yadi-massacre-revisited.
CHAPTER 5
The reporting on violence against women during conflict is well established. There is no shortage of sources detailing the horrors faced by women in various hotspots around the globe.
“‘Comfort women’: Researchers claim first known film,” BBC News, July 10, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40552812.
European Parliament, Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, November 2014, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/EPRS-AaG-542155-Sexual-violence-in-DRC-FINAL.pdf.
Jocelyn Kelly, “The ICC’s New Precedent for Sexual Violence as a War Crime,” Council on Foreign Relations, April 4, 2016, https://www.cfr.org/blog/iccs-new-precedent-sexual-violence-war-crime.
“‘All of My Body Was Pain’: Sexual Violence against Rohingya Women and Girls in Burma,” Human Rights Watch, November 16, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/11/16/all-my-body-was-pain/sexual-violence-against-rohingya-women-and-girls-burma.
Rukmini Callimachi, “Freed From ISIS, Yazidi Women Return in ‘Severe Shock’,” New York Times, July 27, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/world/middleeast/isis-yazidi-women-rape-iraq-mosul-slavery.html.
Major General Chris Olukolade, announced the rescue of all “129 girls, except eight”: “Nigerian government says most kidnapped girls rescued,” Al Jazeera, April 16, 2014, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/16/nigeria-kidnap-rescue.html.
“Chronicle Of False Narratives And Inconsistencies By The Nigerian Government Over The Rescue Of The Abducted Chibok Schoolgirls,” Bring Back Our Girls, October 13, 2014, http://www.bringbackourgirls.ng/chronicle-of-false-narratives-and-inconsistencies-by-the-nigerian-government-over-the-rescue-of-the-abducted-chibok-schoolgirls.
He followed up with a retraction: Aminu Abubakar et al., “Nigerian military retracts claim that nearly all abducted students were released,” CNN, April 18, 2014, https://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/17/world/africa/nigeria-abducted-girls/index.html.
CHAPTER 6
Reports date back to 2009 of women and girls being snatched: “Nigeria: Chibok anniversary a chilling reminder of Boko Haram’s ongoing scourge of abductions,” Amnesty International, April 13, 2017, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/04/nigeria-chibok-anniversary-a-chilling-reminder-of-boko-harams-ongoing-scourge-of-abductions.
“Those Terrible Weeks in their Camp: Boko Haram Violence against Women and Girls in Northeast Nigeria,” Human Rights Watch, October 2014, http://features.hrw.org/features/HRW_2014_report/Those_Terrible_Weeks_in_Their_Camp/index.html.
Christian town of Konduga and disappeared with dozens of women: Jacob Zenn And Elizabeth Pearson, “Boko Haram And The Kidnapping Of Women: A Troubled Tactic,” War On The Rocks, March 11, 2014, https://warontherocks.com/2014/03/boko-haram-and-the-kidnapping-of-women.
The group was founded in Maiduguri back in 2002: There has been a great deal of deeply researched writing on the origins of Boko Haram and the socio-political conditions that gave rise to Mohammed Yusuf and upon his death, his successor Abubakar Shekau: Hilary Matfess, Women And The War On Boko Haram: Wives, Weapons, Witnesses (London: Zed Books, 2016).
Hilary Matfess, “Boko Haram: History and Context,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia, October 2017, http://africanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-119.
“Boko Haram: Behind the Rise of Nigeria’s Armed Group,” Al Jazeera, December 22, 2016, https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2016/11/boko-haram-rise-nigeria-armed-group-161101145500150.html.
Karin Brulliard, “For Many, Nigeria’s Moderate Form of Sharia Fails to Deliver on Promises,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/11/AR2009081103257.html?noredirect=on.
Elodie Apard’s scholarly writings about speeches given by Yusuf and Shekau provide keen insight into the motivations and evolution of both men: Élodie Apard, “The Words of Boko Haram,” Afrique contemporaine 255, no. 3 (2015): 41-69, https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_AFCO_255_0043—the-words-of-boko-haram.htm.
the killing of Yusuf’s former mentor Sheikh Adam: Ahmad Salkida, “Muhammad Yusuf: Teaching and preaching controversies,” Salkida, February 28, 2009, http://salkida.com/muhammad-yusuf-teaching-and-preaching-controversies.
Atta Barkindo, “An introduction to Boko Haram’s ideologues: from Yusuf to Shekau,” Africa Research Institute, February 2, 2017, https://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/newsite/blog/introduction-boko-harams-ideologues-yusuf-shekau.
Misbahu Ahmed, “Nigeria: Boko Haram raises more questions than answers,” The Final Call, February 2, 2012, http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Perspectives_1/article_8582.shtml.
Will Ross, “Boko Haram Kano attack: Loss of life on staggering scale,” BBC News, November 30, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30266868.
Alex Thurston, “Salafism in Northern Nigeria Beyond Boko Haram,” Council on Foreign R
elations, January 27, 2017, https://www.cfr.org/blog/salafism-northern-nigeria-beyond-boko-haram.
Alex Thurston, “The Disease Is Unbelief”: Boko Haram’s Religious And Political Worldview, The Brookings Institution, January 2016, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Brookings-Analysis-Paper_Alex-Thurston_Final_Web.pdf.
schools at all levels had been closed for months in 22 out of 27 local government areas: “‘They Set the Classrooms on Fire’: Attacks on Education in Northeast Nigeria,” Human Rights Watch, April 11, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/04/11/they-set-classrooms-fire/attacks-education-northeast-nigeria.
CHAPTER 7
the unfamiliar notes of Kanuri, the language: Michael Baca, “Boko Haram and the Kanuri Factor,” African Arguments, February 16, 2015, http://africanarguments.org/2015/02/16/boko-haram-and-the-kanuri-factor-by-michael-baca/.
Jeremy Weate, “Boko Haram’s roots in Nigeria long predate Al-Qaeda era,” Al Jazeera, April 23, 2014, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/23/boko-haram-s-rootsinnigerialongpredatethealqaedaera.html.
Nomadic Fulani herdsmen: “Displacement of herdsmen from Sambisa heightens farmers-harders conflicts-Zwingina,” Vanguard News Nigeria, July 11, 2018, https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/displacement-of-herdsmen-from-sambisa-heightens-farmers-harders-conflicts-zwingina.
“How to resolve herdsmen crisis—Nigerian Working Group,” Premium Times, January 12, 2018, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/255364-resolve-herdsmen-crisis-nigerian-working-group.html.
Bodunrin Kayode, “Inside Nigeria's Sambisa forest, the Boko Haram hideout where kidnapped school girls are believed to be held,” The Guardian, April 29, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/29/nigeria-sambisa-forest-boko-haram-hideout-kidnapped-school-girls-believed-to-be-held.
CHAPTER 9