Fighting Boko Haram with weapon of sanction, diplomacy

THOSE that sponsor Boko Haram are enemies of Nigeria. To date, the Lake Chad Basin region is grappling with a complex humanitarian emergency and sanctions will be a great weapon against boko haram. Over 3.3 million people have been displaced that can fight boko haram with strong weapon of sanctions and diplomacy, including over 2.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in north-eastern Nigeria can fight with sanctions, over 550,000 IDPs in Cameroon, Chad and Niger and 240,000 refugees in the four countries. More than 200 million Nigerians can use economic sanctions and diplomacy to defeat boko haram. If Nigeria cannot defeat Boko Haram with military power, President Buhari should introduce the strong weapon of economic sanction and diplomacy to enable more than 200 million Nigerians to fight countries who are sponsoring Boko Haram through the boycott of their goods. Nigeria can use sanctions as a strategy against countries sponsoring Boko Haram. Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries should impose sanctions on countries that have been identified as sponsors of Boko Haram and other jihadists in West Africa. Nigeria should apply strong weapon of sanctions on countries on Lake Chad basin where boko haram get weapons from neighbouring Lake Chad countries at giveaway prices. It is easier to move arms and ammunition to Lake Chad Basin because of porous borders.

The war against Boko Haram could be fought on many fronts: diplomatic, intelligence, covert action, economic sanctions, law enforcement as well as military. Diplomacy, intelligence, covert action, and economic sanctions have historically served as auxiliary measures in wartime. Economic sanctions, in particular, have routinely foreshadowed or accompanied broader war efforts. If Nigeria is determined to bring economic as well as military power to bear in the fight against Boko Haram, the Buhari administration must deploy a variety of economic tools such as preferential trade measures, the application of sanctions coupled with loans to reward allies, and new sanctions to intimidate adversaries who sponsor Boko Haram. In this war, sanctions policy is being used both as a stick and a carrot, which is a new and welcome twist. To eliminate these groups, or persuade them to abandon their objective, sanction would rank as a major policy triumph.

The history of economic sanctions amply demonstrates that only military force and covert action can play a decisive role in a battle of this magnitude. At best, economic sanctions can play only a supporting role with respect to terrorist groups. The UN Security Council officially declared Boko Haram a terrorist group linked to al Qaeda and can impose sanctions against the extremists, who have escalated attacks in Nigeria as they continue to hold schoolgirls and other Nigerians captive. Economic sanctions will be an important step in support of the government of Nigeria’s efforts to defeat Boko Haram and hold its murderous leadership accountable for atrocities”. United Nations will help to close off important avenues of funding … and weapons to Boko Haram, and show global unity against their savage actions”. Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al Qaeda should add Boko Haram to the list of al Qaeda-linked organisations subject to an arms embargo and asset freeze.

It would be hard to fight a conventional war with only assault rifles; likewise, Boko Haram groups do not necessarily need a lot of weapons to initiate a war. Boko Haram can maintain low-intensity conflicts through the use … roadblocks, border controls, or sanctions, for example—prices of these goods will increase. Stronger regulation of the mining industries in northern Nigeria. Sponsors of Boko Haram still violate the trade and weapons bans with the help of a global network of arms dealers, diamond merchants and natural resources companies. Stronger regulation of the mining industries in West Africa will help to reduce Boko Haram’s access to the stones. But the absence of international controls on solid minerals exports has allowed sanctions-busters to evade national regulations by smuggling them to neighbouring countries for sale on world markets. Nigeria should “name and shame” governments, businesses and individuals suspected of sponsoring boko haram and recommend a number of new economic measures to choke off the trade in natural resources for weapons. sanctions against countries that sponsor boko haram could worsen an already-desperate economic situation, any additional sanctions should be carefully targeted at the government who sponsor Boko Haram.

There should be arms embargo, a travel ban on people who served as sponsors or provided financial or military assistance to jihadists in West Africa, and embargoes on any diamonds and timber exports from West Africa. With respect to the arms embargo in particular, I wish to make the following recommendations: The CBN News Channel was first with the news that Turkey was a major supplier of weapons to Boko Haram.  The AFP, the French News Agency revealed that the information came through an audio recording that is circulating in the YouTube channel quoting a senior executive of the Turkish Airlines, Mehmet Karatas, who was overheard telling Mustafa Varank, a former adviser to Recep Tayyip Erdogan when Erdogan was still the Prime Minister, his regrets about the arms airlifts to Nigeria.  “I do not know whether these weapons will kill Muslims or Christians.  I feel sinful,” Mr. Karatas was overheard telling the Prime Minister’s adviser.

But Nigerians who are bearing the brunt of the war deserve to know precisely what is going on in these issues.  It is more six months ago when the former President of Benin Republic, Mr. Nicephore Soglo, volunteered that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funding Boko Haram.  He offered his opinion at the constitutional term limits summit in Niamey, Niger Republic where he also suggested that Africans must stand united to solve their own problems and that it is an illusion to depend on others to do it for us.  “Boko Haram is funded by our friends from Saudi Arabia, and our friends from Qatar.  Are we friends or not?  Let’s tell ourselves the truth.  We have to stand together.  I’m optimistic we are going to win if we stand together,” Soglo said. The former president of Benin Republic, Nicephore Soglo, says the Boko Haram terrorist group is funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Soglo leveled the allegation while speaking at the constitutional term limits summit in Naimey, Niger Republic, gathers that the ex president urged Africans to unite to solve their problems. (Soglo said Africa – especially West Africa – must work at solving its own problems, and that it should be able to identify its real friends.

He said: “Boko Haram is funded by our friends from Saudi Arabia and our friends from Qatar. Are we friends or not? Let’s tell ourselves the truth. We have to stand together. The United Nations has revealed that some non-governmental organisations are sending funds to Boko Haram, a deadly terror group in Nigeria. The international body also identified generous contributions and extortion as some of the other means through which the group is being funded, according to a report from Kairat Umarov, the Chairperson of the UN Security Council Committee.

• Donald writes via in walomhe.donald@yahoo.com

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