CNN report: Finally, US govt to designate Boko Haram as terrorist group

by Adeola Balogun

The United States of America has reached a decision to officially recognize Nigerian sect, Boko Haram, as a terrorist group.

U.S. officials told CNN that Boko Haram had been found to have links to international terrorist groups, Al Qaeda, and Ansaru, and so it would be added to the U.S. list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Once added to the list, Boko Haram would come under the radar of the United States department meaning that its members would have travel bans placed on them and numerous other restrictions.

CNN reports:

The move enables the United States to freeze assets, impose travel bans on known members and affiliates, and prohibit Americans from offering material support.

The United States says Boko Haram has killed thousands since 2009. Human rights groups put the figure at more than 3,000.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa-Fulani language, has launched a self-described “war on Christians” and seeks to impose a strict version of Sharia law across northeastern Nigeria, if not the entire country.

It has attacked various targets in the West African nation since its formation in the late 1990s, according to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center. This includes killing and kidnapping Westerners, and bombing schools, churches and mosques, the center said.

In August, militants allegedly went into a mosque in Borno state and killed 44 worshipers.

The group released a video boasting that it was growing stronger and had launched attacks in Benisheikh in September that the State Department said left 160 civilians dead, many of them Muslim women and children.

Opinion: Should U.S. fear Boko Haram?

In recent months, it has stepped up attacks against students at English-language schools. In September, the State Department said Boko Haram attacked an agricultural school, killing 50 students in their dorm as they slept.

Earlier this month, the United Nations warned the extremist group could be found guilty of crimes against humanity after it launched a brutal attack on a wedding party that killed more than 30 people.

The U.N. refugee agencies estimates more than 8,000 people in Northern Nigeria have fled into neighboring Cameroon to escape the escalating violence and another 5,000 have become internally displaced.

While the group’s principle focus is Nigeria, the United States cites links to the al Qaeda affiliate in West Africa, and extremist groups in Mali.

Gen. Carter Ham, then the commander of U.S. Africa Command, warned Congress that Boko Haram elements “aspire to a broader regional level of attacks,” including against United States and European interests.

A Boko Haram suicide attack on the United Nations building two years ago in the Nigerian capital of Abuja killed at least 25 people.

In June 2012, the State Department added several of the group’s members to a terrorist blacklist, including its new leader Abubakar Shekau, who has a $7 million bounty on his head.

The decision to designate Boko Haram and Ansaru followed a robust debate.

 

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