Thousand flee the Republic of Niger's town of Diffa amid Boko Haram threat

Niger officials say thousands of people have left their homes in the Western African country’s southeastern and frontier town of Diffa over fears that Nigeria-based Takfiri Boko Haram militants may launch an attack on the town. A local politician, requesting anonymity, said the flow of people out of Diffa, which is located approximately 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) east of the capital, Niamey, continued on Thursday even though the town was calm. “Everyone wants to get as far from Boko Haram as possible,” the politician said. The International Rescue Committee country director in Niger, Matias Meier, also said hundreds of mini-busses, coaches and trucks have transferred people out of Diffa, and the cost of a seat in any vehicle traveling to Zinder, the second largest city in Niger and situated some 450 kilometers (280 miles) west of Diffa, has jumped nearly threefold to 15,000 Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) francs, which is equal to USD 26.

“Those who went on the trucks are the lucky ones. Bus tickets are sold out until the end of next week. Many are just walking or going by bicycle,” Meier said. Niger has declared a 15-day state of emergency in Diffa. The declaration gives troops in the border town increased powers to search homes without a warrant and impose a curfew. The curfew will force the Diffa residents to stay indoors between 20:00 and 06:00 local time (19:00 and 05:00 GMT). Niger’s army, backed by Chadian forces, on several occasions engaged in battles with Boko Haram militants in Diffa this week.The Nigerien military says its forces have killed 260 Boko Haram militants and have arrested others in fighting since February 6. “We have taken the steps necessary to guarantee the peace and security of the population. We call on people not to panic,” a spokesman for Niger’s armed forces, Colonel Moustapha Michel Ledru, said.

As the war against Boko Haram intensifies, the perception that it is wedged by disaffected and jobless youths who oppose and hate Western Education is becoming pedestrian. The sophistication of the command and operational structures of Boko Haram leaves no one in doubt about this reality.    The weapons deployed to commit the ongoing pogrom appear to have been acquired and brought to the war zones through a complicated network. It is hard to believe that a conflict of this magnitude can occur without a complex network of individuals and organizations supporting Boko Haram’s criminal war effort. It may be reasonably suggested that it is a political establishment serving distinct interests in Nigeria and Cameroon. In Nigeria, it has never sought ransom for the many victims it has abducted. In Cameroon although officially classified as a nebulous or illusive enemy, it has turned abduction for ransom into a lucrative business. 

Boko Haram in Nigeria is a child of Nigerian history and the impunity of Northern Nigeria’s Military establishment. Armed conflict is part of Nigeria history. It is also a business which has enriched many.  People including generations unborn learn from history. The savaged brutality meted on civilians and civilian objects in Nigeria pre-exist Boko Haram. These acts of impunity were some of the methods deployed by successive military regimes, most of them from Northern Generals to accede and sustain power. The ongoing slaughter by Boko Haram follows the same pattern which in 1966 led to the Nigeria/Biafra War. The underlying cause of the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Southerners, mainly of the Ibo ethnic groups in the North was never comprehensively investigated, if at all.  There is no gainsaying that had the crimes been investigated, the result would have pointed to some powerful individuals within the Nigerian Military structure of Northern origin. For these, political power and control of the economy could only be attained through scapegoating communities whom they perceived as serious competitors.