World powers must help Nigeria fight terror
As Boko Haram terrorists kill scores more of civilians and soldiers alike this weekend, overrun yet another Nigerian town and come dangerously close to capturing Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State which they control to a large extent, there is little mention of its reign of terror in the international media. This is only to be expected, if coverage from the Charlie Hebdo period is any indication. The same week that three Islamist radicals attacked the editorial offices of the French satirical magazine in Paris, killing 17 persons, Boko Haram terrorists flattened the rural Nigerian town of Baga and slaughtered an estimated 2,000 people.
Yet, the former received wall-to-wall coverage as well as a global march of unity that saw leaders from all across the world gather in Paris to express their solidarity and support, while the latter was relegated to small news items on the inside pages of daily papers. The reasons for this disproportionate coverage are many. First, there is the fatigue factor. Boko Haram has been running a murderous campaign across the north-eastern Nigeria since 2009. Its atrocities (remember, the #bringbackourgirls campaignIJ) have become a matter of routine, much like the deaths in Syria and Iraq.
In comparison, killers don't go on the rampage in Western capitals everyday — and so, when they do go on a killing spree in Paris or london or Brussels or Ottawa or take hostages in Sydney, these events grab headlines. Second, from a logistical point of view, it is easy to report on an event in Paris than cover another in Baga. In fact, even in today's age of instant communication, it sometimes takes weeks before news from the remote, often conflict-torn, parts of the African continent, reaches the mainstream discourse.
Some allege that the Nigerian crisis has been ignored by the world because neither America nor any other major Western power has a direct stake in the country. This is not entirely true. Nigeria is the biggest African economy today, an emerging global power, and home to vast oil reserves. All major powers have an interest in ensuring a stable Nigeria and they have been involved in back channel discussions with the Nigerian Government to defeat Boko Haram.
In fact, US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Nigeria on Sunday and met with President Goodluck Jonathan and the latter's electoral rival, Mr Muhammadu Buhari (the two men face each other in next month's presidential poll). Mr Kerry also took great pains to underline that the Obama Administration is working closely with the Nigerian Government on this issue. But at the end of the day, as similar crises (from the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq to the Houthis in Yemen back to the Taliban in the AfPak region) around the world stand proof, foreign assistance is of little help if national authorities are weak. In Nigeria's case, there is no denying that the failures of President Jonathan's corrupt Government and inept military have contributed directly to Boko Haram's rise.