12 August 2016

Boko Haram and Ansaru Stakeholder Analysis

DOCUMENT / PDF / 254 KB

Boko Haram (BH) is a Sunni Islamist armed group based in Borno state in northeast Nigeria. ‘Boko Haram’ translates from Hausa to ‘western education is forbidden’. The group was founded in 2002 by an Islamist cleric named Mohammed Yusuf in response to Nigeria’s democratic transition, nationalism and Western influence. The group’s official name is not Boko Haram but Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”.

Conflict and violence