Boko Haram Exposes Africa's Power Vacuum

The reign of terror in recent years of Boko Haram in Nigeria is just the latest indictment of the weak state of Africa's defenses against terror and mayhem. The genocide in Rwanda back in 1994 is the textbook example. Over a period of 100 days more than 500,000-1,000,000 Tutsi tribal members were slaughtered by the Hutu majority while the hapless U.N. stood idly by. Sierra Leon's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) with support from Liberia's Charles Taylor murdered 50,000 between 1991-2002. Not only did the feckless U.N. do nothing to prevent the genocide, they along with the Clinton administration pressured the Sierra Leone government to cancel a contract with Executive Outcomes, a private army contractor who had been very effective in controlling the rag tag RUF. With the contractor out of the way, the murder and maiming resumed.

Just last week in the shadow of the Paris attacks, Boko Haram in its attempts to establish an Islamic state rampaged through the Northern Nigerian town of Baga, burning villages and according to reports killing as many as 2,000 dead. Last year, disguised as Nigerian soldiers, Boko Haram murdered hundreds of villagers in the Northeast state of Borno, some estimate the death toll at 400. To date Nigerian forces seem to be incapable of curbing the violence. The continent of Africa has been susceptible to genocide over the past twenty years due to the lack of a continental policeman. If there was a nation or nations in Africa with a strong military, rule of law and U.S. style values, Africa would be far better equipped to prevent and or respond to this type of evil. East and West Africa are dealing with the scourge of Islamic terror. Kenya is bogged down with an insurgency from the Somali terror group Al Shabab, which was responsible for the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi last September which killed over 60 and wounded 175. In spite of all the pan African rhetoric and perceived cooperation, it's nowhere to be found whenever innocents are being slaughtered. One would think that a Africa with its 53 nation states could assemble a capable security force to meet these types of threats. So far, Boko Haram's  has spread to neighboring Chad and Cameroon. Both nations have scored important victories recently, killing hundreds of Boko Haram fighters. I sincerely hope that Africa's leadership understands that it must take responsibility for its own security or there will be more atrocities. Given the rise of Islamic terrorism, you can count on it. If they don't, then I would suggest they learn Arabic.