Mourners attend the funeral of 43 farm workers in Zabarmari, about 20km from Maiduguri, northern Nigeria, on November 29, 2020 after they were killed by Boko Haram fighters on November 28, 2020. PHOTO | AUDU MARTE | AFP
The recent slaughter of more than 100 farmers in Borno State, Nigeria, by the jihadist group Boko Haram should convince those still in denial that Africa is now a terror hotspot.
Terror has crippled Somalia. Every time the East African nation begins to rebuild from years of chaos, terrorists bring her down on her knees. Just when Mozambique was beginning to make progress from effects of years of civil war, terrorism makes parts of the country desolate wastelands of death. Kenya, after a series of devastating attacks, is constantly under threat. Cameroon, too, suffers deadly attacks. Burkina Faso is desperately fighting off terror. North Africa suffers intermittent albeit extremely violent attacks.
But perhaps it is the terrorism in Nigeria which shows the depraved nihilism of jihadist terror. Where is the military value in slitting throats of poor farmers eking out a living in a country impoverished by pathological corruption? What religious justification can there be for depriving people already living hellish lives? What religious goal is served when you kidnap children from their homes and force them to become sex slaves? What can be more alien to the principle of a common humanity to which every religion subscribes than notions of gender and religious supremacy? After the slaughter in Borno State, the UN spoke for everyone when it expressed “horror and outrage”.
Where is the African Union? For years — until a while ago — the continental body refused to accept that theft by African governments was a major cause of underdevelopment, and address the issue with urgency. The AU shies away from condemning brutality of African police on unarmed citizens. The AU refuses to confront the issue of bad governance and dictatorship in Africa. The continental body has never confronted traditional customs that continue to deprive women of their humanity. And now, in the face of terror that violates the very core of our humanity, the African Union fails to call an extraordinary summit to discuss the deteriorating terror situation on the continent.
And yet, ironically but not surprisingly, the AU was quick to denounce Donald Trump’s insult when he called its member states a bunch of “shit hole” countries. Again, the AU was quick to protest the mistreatment of African Americans at the hands of the US police. Why is the AU’s dignity offended and its consciousness pricked by these events and not by those closer to home?
Terror is a complex problem because it is caused by a multitude of factors. First: A truly depraved religious ideology that aims to return the world to a medieval religious culture. Second: Terror breeds in situations of poverty and despair. Third: Perceived or real marginalisation of religious and cultural minorities. Fourth: Psychological angst at rapid social change. Given this complexity, there can be no other issue that would require the African Union’s urgent attention than terrorism.
Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator
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