The Fight against Boko Haram: Goodluck’s SOS

Better late than never. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan finally decided to ask the Americans for help in the fight against Boko Haram. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the resident of Abuja’s presidential palace openly solicited American assistance in the war against the Islamist sect, very active since the beginning of 2015.

This is a turnaround in the Nigerian authorities’ attitude, who for a long time made this war against the jihadi group a sovereignty issue. Until now, in fact, despite repeated failures in dealing with the spreading danger, Abuja persisted in its refusal to see an international force set foot on its soil.

This arrogant and shortsighted nationalism has had disastrous consequences — metastasis of the “cancer” and collapse of the sub-regional security situation. Nigeria’s border countries are now the victims of its stubbornness.

In fact, in their expansionism, Islamists have made deadly inroads in Cameroon, where they have massacred civilians and burned down homes; in Niger, the Salafist group continues its raids mainly in the city of Diffa, forcing the Nigerian government to declare a state of emergency in this locality; Chad, which sent troops to Nigeria to track down Abubakar Shekau’s men, is also paying the price, with attacks in its territory just a few days ago that caused casualties and property damage.

Boko Haram has become a real problem to sub-regional security, to the point of waking the African Union from its lethargy. The Pan-African organization has decided to raise a contingent of 8,700 men to go to war against the Islamist network without knowing as of yet who will provide the sinews of war.

Hopefully, Goodluck’s SOS isn’t too late, especially considering that the Americans, who were present on the ground with intelligence agents and military advisers, were forced to suspend training a Nigerian battalion at the end of 2014 due to the rashness of the same Goodluck, who was furious at not obtaining lethal weapons.

What’s certain is that we won’t be seeing any GIs landing in Maiduguri tomorrow. If the White House hasn’t even bothered to send infantry to regions that are relevant, for geostrategic reasons, it’s unlikely that our brother Obama would hold a meeting in the Situation Room for this “far country,” albeit English-speaking and bursting with oil.

The main risk in supplying lethal weaponry is that these same arms will find their way into the hands of the enemy, whether due to corruption or due to their abandonment by Nigerian forces, who often take to their heels at the Islamists’ first gunshot.

In any case, whether it be the United States or other African countries, it’s wrong to think that Boko Haram is a problem that only concerns Nigeria. All nations should be shocked by the nature of the Islamist organization, which starts with infiltration to commit bombings before appearing in the open with heavy weapons.