After Chibok, Another Kidnapping Met With Silence

Nigerian authorities and the world may have lost a sense of urgency about Boko Haram’s brazen attacks on small villages and mass kidnappings. A UNICEF report points out that girls are regarded as sex slaves, boys are trained to fight, and both are used as suicide bombers. Inequality and a complacency about authority may encourage bullying of victims by both terrorists and communities, thus aiding Boko Haram in an extreme mission “to impose Islamic rule and oppose all Western influence, from banks to secular education,” report Aminu Abubakar and Robyn Dixon for the Los Angeles Times. “It draws its fighters and support mainly from Kanuri people, an ethnic group in northeastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon and southeastern Niger who have long felt marginalized by governments.” The terrorists often attack on market days, targeting schools, to disrupt local economies. More than 2 million people have been displaced since summer of 2013. – YaleGlobal