Boko Haram and defining the 'al-Qaeda network'

Yahoo News
June 8, 2014

http://www.childrensrightsinstitute.org/341/boko-haram-and-defining-the-al-qaeda-network

Over 200 of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls are still missing. These kidnappings have led to an increased focus on the threat posed by the perpetrators: Boko Haram. This group has been conducting a vicious insurgency in Nigeria since 2009 in the hope of creating an Islamic state, with increased fears over their ties toal-Qaeda and the extent they pose a threat outside Nigeria.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan claimed in May that Boko Haram was "an al-Qaeda operation". The extent to which this is technically true depends on how broadly we define the al-Qaeda network - and it should be noted that Ayman al-Zawahiri has never even publicly referred to Boko Haram - but their ties to al-Qaeda and its affiliates are now so numerous that they are impossible to ignore.