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01/04/2016

Boko Haram, from militia to terrorist group (DIEEEO33-2016)

Within the last years, the terrorist organization Boko Haram has destabilized one of the richest countries in Africa, Nigeria, and since a year ago also Chad and Cameroon. Most observers analyze the criminal group in ‘ideological’ terms, so from that perspective the group is looking to install a political regime inspired by a rigid interpretation of Islamic laws. However, their origins are related to ambitions of power from a military elite and then, the organisation was driven by economical greed and predatory reasons. Almost all the political literature that explains the reasons for the outbreak of the armed movement, draws on aspects of political and social exclusion —which in this case exists also to mobilize militias. However, there are also other purely economic factors, linked to the control of natural resources that help us to understand this enemy.
 

Author:  Beatriz Mesa García

THIS DOCUMENT IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN SPANISH LANGUAGE.

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Boko Haram, from militia to terrorist group
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