Boko Haram Is Back. With Better Drones.

Boko Haram has drones, really? Whose - Chinese? Israeli? Or is this hearsay masquerading as journalism? Nigeria's problems are those of Africa write large - lack of trust, tribalism, opportunism, cynicism, selfishness and absence of institutions that would be capable and/or willing to enforce the rule of law. Boko Haram are bandits not unlike those that have roamed the region for thousands of years. To stop them, the Nigerian generals would have to be forced to stop stealing. And this will never happen.

Buhari, a Muslim, is reluctant to take on Boko Haram, just as he's reluctant to take action against the Muslim Fulani nomads who attack farmers in order to get more grazing land for their cows. Both BH and the Fulanis espouse a world view for the 6th century rather than modern times. Money for the military has been, and is being, siphoned off into the pockets of corrupt leaders. It always has been, even as far back as the Biafra war in the late 70s when soldiers were sent into battle with one bullet each; they fired, and ran away. Things are getting worse. Now, Nigerians are attacking and burning South African businesses in Nigeria, in revenge for the brutal Xenephobic attacks in South Africa. Where will this end?

Nigeria's birth rate is about 37 prt 1000. Is human life really so valued when the replacement rate is so high? Yes, these Islamic groups are awful, and here it would make sense for villagers to have a militia and be armed... but against drones?? not that much chance.. and where are the drones made? and who made money off the drones? Someone explain please why men esp. (a few women too) are so fond of war and bloodshed?? What are the genetic factors and how can they be treated?

Maybe Trump will invite them to Camp David.

This article’s headline is misleading. The article does not focus on the drones of Boko Haram, but rather the discrepancy between the army’s strength and that of Boko Haram as the conflict drags on.

As a seaman who was trading to Nigeria at the time of independance, the people were promised riches once that occurred. The riches came to the politicians, the Finance Minister was known as King Dash (dash being a bribe). Nigeria now is totally corrupt the leaders the Army Officers etc. the ordinary soldiers are badly paid and trained mainly coming from the Christian coast regions and have no motivation to tackle Boko Haram who arm themselves with the army's abandoned weapons, they then are replaced with U.S./UK weapons and the show goes on. Everyone who is anyone makes a buck.

I worked in Nigeria twenty years ago. I remember Lagos as being the biggest continuous slum I have ever stayed in or driven through. On the 15 mile highway trip from Lagos Airport to our American work/accomodation compound in Lekki, our car would always be stopped at least three times by gangs of armed Nigerian soldiers, who stopped cars to require we pay bribes to go through their checkpoints. Typically, the cadre at each highway stop would be composed of about 10 to 15 males, in various uniforms, aged 12 to 65. Some had khaki and camo, others were in complete camo. Some had boots on with laces tied. Some had boots on with no laces. Some wore flip flops. Lots of different armaments. I recall one time, when a 12 - 13 year old wrapped on my car window with the barrel of his AK-47, and his finger on the trigger.. He was looking for a bribe. I reminded myself how much I was being paid by my company to be working in this "heart of darkness" country. My personal remembrance of Nigeria is as a terrible place to be, with rampant poverty, corruption and cruelty - in all directions. I see, over the past 20 years, that it hasn't gotten better. I'm glad I survived my time there - but it is not a country worth saving.

Nigeria's problems are the world's problems. Gross corruption, tribalism, and inability/unwillingness to govern are driving tens of millions of desperate people to Europe and North America, just as millions are driven from Central America to the US. That will grow far worse as the African population explodes from its current one billion to the projected 4-6 billion by the end of this century. We all pay the price of countries unable and unwilling to govern themselves; rote finger-pointing about ancient colonialism is irrelevant and deliberately deflects attention from the real issue: Africa is not able to govern itself. If the West is to stem the flood of humanity and save itself from turning into a grossly overcrowded and ungovernable Africa North, its only hope is to step back into Africa and impose responsible government. The 19th century experiment in colonialism dragged Africa out of the stone age but was abandoned before the continent reached even a 10th century level of governance. It will never attain a semblance of responsible democratic modernity until many generations have benefitted from a new benevolent, paternalistic colonialism of the sort practiced by the British in East Africa in the last century.

"Boko Haram has long been accused of profiting from illegal fishing along Lake Chad, where all fishing is outlawed, and from taxing passing vehicles" I've always suspected that the people running the New Jersey Turnpike were criminals. What would happen if Americans just stopped paying the enormous tolls? People carrying guns would hunt them down - that's a fact. We may be far less advanced than we think we are.

Nigeria is the most populous black African majority nation on Earth. With about 500 different ethnic cultural language groups Nigeria is one of the most diverse nations on Earth. Nigeria has been the home of many ancient ethnic sectarian diverse civilizations before being colonized and conquered and claimed by the British Empire in 1885. The British didn't care about that history. Nigerian independence in 1960 started a new era. Ethnic sectarian conflict along with socioeconomic political educational development has led to civil war, military dictatorships and corruption. The roots of Boko Haram rest in sectarian conflict between traditional religions, Christianity and Islam inextricably intertwined with ethnic cultural language differences. Nigeria is amagalm much more like Europe than America.

What is most important is the sale of arms to these people. Who does this? Which country? As long as we allow corporations to make and sell arms worldwide we will have these horrors. And don’t talk to me about free trade!

Imagine if all of the major sources of arms for sale (like the U.S.. France, Russia, South Africa, etc) decided it was immoral to do so. How how much brutality would stop.

Buhari is the number one enabler of terrorism in Nigeria because reports that he is releasing so called repentant terrorists and even recruiting them into the military, police and para military, aside from cash he uses to compensate them, that runs in billions, has refused to go away. You don't need to wonder why they are back with better weapons and intelligence. Meanwhile, the only time Buhari actually deploys sophisticated weapons, is when he wants to intimidate and kill innocent and unarmed protesters and dissenting voices.

An article which describes, but does not adequately explain, how institutionalized violence continues to be enabled in this African country. Who are the powerful individual and systemic stakeholders for whom such violating of bodies, psyches, communities, norms, values and ethics is an ongoing agenda? Both internal and external ones! What role has, does, can the UN “debating society” play? Will this daily WE-THEY human created and sustained tragedy become the focus of some commission’s study, or a PhD thesis ”Forensic Post-Colonialism: A Case Study?” In a nonlinear, 3D gradient, ranging in types, levels and qualities of complacency to complicity what can one understand about ourselves as we read this article, derive and create meanings from its semantics and photos, ponder a bit, or even a bit more, and then choose the next article to read, while in our own safe have a relatively safe life style?

Why is it that in 2019, there are still so many areas that don't know peace and are not likely to know it for years? Guerrilla or conventional, war is about force while peace is about compromise. What gives terrorists the right to force others to their way of thinking? Enough!

The United States tried the fortified villages approach in Vietnam. The results are well known. The primary advantage guerrilla forces have over conventional ones is mobility. The super villages that Nigerian forces are creating are a fixed position that fixes the defenses in place and concedes all the advantages to the oppositional guerrilla forces. This is a losing strategy.

The scar on Abdul's tummy isn't from shrapnel, it's a laparotomy scar. He had surgery for abdominal blast injury.

The title says "Boko Haram is back. With Better Drones.".. but drones are only mentioned once in the article. Where are the drones manufactured? How sophisticated are they? How much do they cost? Where does Boko Haram get it's financing?

Incredibly sad and frustrating. Nothing in this report indicates a plan to solve this problem. Like all wars, it has a terrible impact on children which guarantees that the conflict will continue. Hopefully, the Nigerian government will get assistance.

Good article. I would have liked to have found out more about the identity of these aid groups, and also about the role of the United Nations in the area. What is impeding a strong presence of the UN in the area?

the same people who gave ISIS hundreds of new Toyota trucks in Iraq are the same who gave Boka haram the drones.

... meanwhile, the weapons manufacturers live in isolated mansions or in wealthy gated communities, leisurely sipping fine wines and sprits, and planning their next yacht excursion and private club party...

The Nigerian military could annihilate Boko Haram if it wanted to, but unfortunately the schoolmarms in the human rights bureau of the department of state — always on the lookout for the slightest real or imagined military excess — will not let that happen. Boko Haram is under no such observation by American human rights scolders. So it is free to chop off heads and commit other acts of atrocity with impunity. That is why Nigerian conscripts rush to change into civilian clothing. By holding the Nigerian military to the same sterling standards of our own military, the United States is allowing Boko Haram to flourish and is perpetuating the conflict in north eastern Nigeria. The fact that President Bihari cares little for a remote region in his own country that is, as far as he’s concerned, on the other side of the Moon, does not help.

Where does Boko Haram get drones better than the military's? How can every male in Afghanistan have a RPG and an unlimited supply of explosives? We need a SWAT Squad for black-market arms dealers, drug cartel bosses, corrupt politicians and corporate vampires.

The article would have been even more informative if the writer had reminded her readers who is financing Boko Haram. What does the money pipeline look like for all these Islamic terrorist groups if it was mapped out?

A lot of countries are irrevocably broken. Unable to make economic and cultural progress. The Nigeria story is more about the inept and corrupt condition of the Nigerian government and its ruling classes. Every nation, including the USA, has actual or potential rebel/extremist groups. Only a strong government and rule of law can keep those destabilizing forces at bay. Nigeria, like most of the developing world, has an almost irredeemable ruling class that does little to nothing for their people in order to live a very comfortable life. These ruling classes need to be heavily sanctioned with travel and finances. A nation of over 200 million people should be able to put down a domestic terrorist group.

Aside from the word of a few local politicians and analysts no proof at all is presented of the sophisticated drones. What gives? Has anyone actually seen one or evidence presented it was used in an attack? This strikes me as pretty weak reporting.

So, which illicit arms merchants and countries are complicit in furnishing Boko Haram sophisticated weapons and drones? And no, they're not stealing all their weapons of war from the Nigerian military.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Soon all militaries will have them. Military technology always spread. This is a fact throughout history. To think that the U.S. abused its initial dominance in drone warfare without regard that soon everyone will be doing targeted assassinations regularly. To think that the president used the excuse that he exercised restraint, without regard of the precedents set for everyone to use executive discretion as the sole deciding factor for drone warfare worldwide.

The central governmetn has no credibility and no capacity to meaningully take on Boko Haram. And why would it want to? There is no money or power in fighting an insurgency, so push it to the margins and let it burn. No one cares about the local residents and their struggles, least of all the oil-corrupted power faction in Abuja. Eventually BH will become succesful enough that USA and international allies will bomb it back a few decades- but it won't change the structural factors behind its rise.

Where is the market for all those young girls they sell? Can we address those ports of sales and sanction nations that buy these girls? Also where are their drones, vehicles made? Who is their supplier? No point in following the money, best to choke their ability to sell or buy anything.

Sadly, the roots of this horrific conflict have a long and tangled history. As a former foreign correspondent in Africa, I coveted a clash between Islamic militants and the Nigerian armed forces in the city of Kano in 1980 that led to the deaths of nearly 5,000 people. Then, as now, the inability of a government bogged down by entrenched corruption to command the loyalty of an impoverished and disenfranchised population riven by regional and ethnic insularity was striking. Thanks to the Times and its intrepid reporters for keeping us up to date on events from a region we ignore to our peril.

"More than two million people have fled their homes, tens of thousands have been killed and many more injured." It is very sad to hear this happened in northeast Nigeria. But this is exactly what happened in the Kashmir Valley from 1989 onwards and through the 1990s. Tens of thousands were killed, women were abducted and many more fled their homes to go elsewhere. Yet, I don't see nearly as much coverage of the Hizbul Mujahideen which terrorised civilians in Kashmir as there has been about Boko Haram. I only see periodic criticisms of the Indian Army being "heavy-handed" even though its presence is need to ensure communal peace. If only reporting could be objective regardless which part of the world was the subject of the article...

I always judge the possibility of change by how many people respond to a NYTimes article. And here we are, 5 comments. Total. I'm sad for Nigeria. I'm sad for us.

Reading this article fills me with more questions than answers. Who is culpable for the problems of today? Many of the modern geopolitical borders in Africa were drawn up by colonialists. The concept of a nation state was itself derived from Europe. Many African "countries" comprise people of disparate ethnicities who have little history of cohesion. Igbos in Biafra once broke off from Nigeria and endured a bloody civil war, before being re-annexed. In the northeast of Nigeria near the Chadian border, people speak Arabic. This is where the Boko Haram insurgency originated. If the linguistic and tribal divisions were too much to contend with, there is religion. Southern Nigeria is predominantly Christian while Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim. "Boko Haram" itself means "Western education is forbidden" revealing the divergence in worldviews within the same country. Add to this, systemic governmental corruption. Between 1957 and 1960 more than 800, 000 barrels of crude oil were exported. More than half a century later, the oil wealth of the Niger Delta has yet to make any tangible improvement to the lives of ordinary Nigerians, many of whom are still impoverished. And yet, British Petroleum, Gulf Oil and Chevron have made a killing. Nigeria's problems really are tribalism, linguistic chauvinism and religion which all weaken the national identity. Meanwhile, mercantile capitalism and corruption make things even worse.

The country of my birth has been imploding on itself for the past 3 decades by unbelievable corruption and brazen lawlessness by those at the highest levels of government. A total lack of sense of service and the forceful drive to extinguish (literally and figuratively) the light out of anyone who dares question the status quo. When people get to the point of not being able to shed another tear, they give up by either allowing themselves to get swept up in the madness or they leave. Every day Nigerians have fought so long for the soul of their country that many question of it is worth it at all. Yet for all the madness, people who are unable to leave wake up everyday and keep soldiering on.

Where does Boko Haram gets its weapons and drones? What is that source? Clearly, they are buying these and not manufacturing them. How is this financed?

This reminds me very much of South Vietnam in 1963.