Terrorism in Africa (African Renaissance Vol 9 No.1 2012)
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Terrorism in Africa: Beyond Essentialism
Jideofor Adibe
Terrorism appears to have become the scourge of our time, with terrorists inflicting both pains and fears in the minds of ordinary folks. Yet, what exactly constitutes ‘terrorism’ or ‘terrorist act’ remains mired in controversy, with the concept often manipulated by those whose political and ideological interests it serves to designate particular actions of agents they are opposed to as terrorism. The problem of definition is compounded by the fact that ‘terrorism’ is an emotionally and politically charged notion, hence one man’s terrorist could be another’s freedom fighter.
Despite the lingering issue of delineation (see for instance Williamson 2009:38, Schmid, 2009), there is increasingly a broad consensus that modern terrorism could be distinguished from war and other acts of violence by some of its unique features such as its goal, which is often to effect a political change, its disregard of the rules of engagement in modern warfare and the fact that terrorist acts are often designed to induce fear and get attention from the public and the media ( see for instance Mohamed Eno et al and Gowa and Alozieuwa in this volume).
Since the September 11 attack in the US, it will appear that there has been a knee jerk tendency to explain or use the word ‘terrorism’ in essentialist terms – as something inherent in a particular religion or in people inhabiting a particular geographic space. This is in spite of the fact that acts that could be described as terrorism are as old as the history of the use of violence to influence a political outcome. In the First Century AD for instance we had the Sicarii, a Jewish group, which murdered enemies and collaborators in their campaign to oust their Roman rulers from Judea. The Sicarii were believed to be led by the descendants of Judas of Galilee, who helped to foster a revolt against direct Roman rule when they attempted to carry out a census of the Jews under the rule of the Roman Governor, Quirinius in Syria so they could tax them. The Sicarii believed that the Jews should be ruled by God alone. According to Richard A. Horsley (1979, quoted in Amy Zalman, no date), in the 50s AD,
… a different type of bandits sprang up in Jersualem, the so-called sicarii, who murdered men in broad daylight in the heart of the city. Especially during the festivals they would mingle with the crowd, carrying short daggers concealed under their clothing, with which they stabbed their enemies. Then when they fell, the murderers would join in the cries of indignation and, through this plausible behavior, avoided discovery.
Though the Sicarii operated primarily in the urban environment of Jerusalem, including within the Temple, they also committed attacks in villages, which they also raided for plunder and set on fire in order to create fear among Jews who acquiesced or collaborated with Roman rule. They also kidnapped notables or others as leverage for the release of their own members held prisoner. Sounds familiar?
Leaving antiquity, a modern notion of the word terrorism is thought to come from the Reign of Terror instigated by Maxmilien Robespierre in 1793 following the French revolution. Robespierre was the leader of the 12-man Committee of Public Safety elected by the National Convention (this was made up of the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795). Agents of the Committee of Public Safety, which enforced the Reign of Terror were known as ‘Terrorists’. Though the Reign of Terror in France was more of state terrorism, the characterization of terrorism as state action has increasingly fallen out of favour, though some states are still politically referred to as sponsors of terrorism.
In the 1950s, with a rise in ethnic nationalism, there was an upsurge in the use of guerrilla tactics by non-state actors such as the Castilians in Basque, the Irish Republican Army and various anti-colonial movements in British, French and |German colonies in Africa. Many of these groups which agitated for self-rule, including Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress, were at that time treated as terrorist groups.
In the late 1960s, terrorism became a global issue with the hijacking on July 22, 1968, of an El Al Israel Airlines plan departing from Rome for Tel Aviv, Israel. The plane was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine(PFLP), a Palestinian nationalist organisation, which successfully diverted the plane, which was carrying 32 passengers and 10 crew members, to Algiers. Again in the 1972 Munich Olympics, Black September, a Palestinian group, kidnapped and killed Israeli athletes preparing to compete. Naftali (2005) has argued that Munich radically changed the United States' handling of terrorism, with notions such as counterterrorism and international terrorism formally entering the Washington political lexicon,"
That modern terrorism is colour and religion blind can be seen in the fact that in the US, there was the Weathermen group, which was formed when the New Left iconic group, Students for a Democratic Society, was dissolved in 1969. The FBI had in fact designated the Weathermen group as a “ domestic terrorist group” (FBI, 2004). Weathermen embraced terrorist tactics – from rioting to setting off bombs to register their opposition to the Vietnam war.
By the 1990s, there has been an increase in religiously inspired groups employing terrorist tactics to achieve their aims. Though there are several extremist groups in Christianity and other religions, the ones that often come to mind are Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. Karen Armstrong (2001) has however argued that the groups, which use religion to perpetrate terrorism are often on the fringe of the religion they claim to promote. She noted that Muhammad Atta, the architect of the 9/11 attacks in the USA, and "the Egyptian hijacker who was driving the first plane, was a near alcoholic and was drinking vodka before he boarded the aircraft." Alcohol would be strictly off limits for a highly observant Muslim.
From the above review therefore, it is important, in discussing terrorism, not only to be conscious of how the notion has evolved over time but to be aware that there is nothing essentially religious, African, or third worldish about it. This will enable an open-minded interrogation of any group designated as terrorist, ensuring therefore, that the dangers inherent in a very essentialist conception of the notion are avoided. This is part of what what we hope to accomplish in this issue by bringing together various contributors who use different perspectives to interrogate the new terrorist challenge in Africa. There is a special focus on the Boko Haram challenge in Nigeria.
Mohamed A. Eno, Omar A. Eno, Mohamed H. Ingiriis, and Jamal M. Haji in their piece, ‘Slavery and Colonialism: The Worst Terrorism on Africa’discuss the contestations over definition and delineation and contend that the period of European slavery of Africa was a period of European terrorism against Africans. They argue that during this period, Western intelligentsia measured the slavery enterprise “from the prism of goals achieved, not crimes committed that caused immeasurable setback to the population of nations of Africans.”
Denise N. Baken and Ioannis Mantzikos in “The Cyber Terrorism Shadow Networks in Africa: AQIM and Boko Haram” discuss the ability of terrorist groups in Africa to leverage advances in technology for gain or to enhance their nefarious activities. They note howYounes Tsouli, or, Irhabi “Terrorist” 007, - as he is more infamously known - an expert in hacking secure systems and committing credit card frauds advised, trained and aided many of the mujahedeen working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top Al Qaeda operative. They note that Irhabi “created training videos, provided security tips, advised the use of proxy servers, distributed suicide vest how-to instructions and developed and distributed the now famous beheading video of American Nicholas Berg.” Denise N. Baken and Ioannis Mantzikos conclude that the “cyberspace expands terrorist organisations’ ability to inflict damage and for this reason there is a need to revisit continued reliance on the word violence in the definition of terrorism “now that the computer has redefined the attack field space. Harm is inflicted on victims, impact can be significant and financial burden may exceed that of the attack of September 11, 2001.”
Jideofor Adibe, in ‘Boko Haram: One Sect, conflicting Narratives’, notes that virtually everything about the sect is contested - from the meaning of its name, to the reasons for its emergence and subsequent radicalisation and whether it is now affiliated to foreign terrorist groups such as the Al Shabaab in Somalia and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). He concludes that virtually everything about Boko Haram remains on the realm of speculation, which calls for empirically informed research to throw more light on the sect and its activities.
Joseph P. Golwa, and Simeon Alozie in ‘Perspectives on Nigeria’s Security Challenges: The Niger Delta Militancy and Boko Haram Insurgency Compared’ argue that it is a mistake to compare the two groups. They contend that the misconception in equating the militancy in the Niger Delta with what they believe is a clear terrorism of Boko Haramhas led to “the call for the prescription of the same formula in addressing the challenges they posed to the Nigerian state. For us, while the Niger Delta militancy was premised on genuine grievances- issues of oil exploration and environmental despoliation accompanied by profound neglect of the region - the Boko Haram menace on the other hand represents a vicious form of religious extremism that espouses intolerance.”
Ufo Okeke Uzodike and Benjamin Maiangwa in ‘Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria: Causal Factors and Central Problematic’ examine the emergence of the sect and its assumed grievances. For them the real culprits in all these are the: “failure of the Nigerian political elite to forge a true national consciousness, endemic corruption, absence of a social safety net for the poor and unemployed, rampant gangsterism and weak security apparatus, pervasive underdevelopment in the north, ineffective judicial system, and ideological struggles within and between religions.”
References
Williamson, Myra (2009). Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001. London, Ashgate Publishing.