African Conflict & Peacebuilding Review

abstract:

This article presents a critical analysis of the Nigerian military response to Boko Haram. It first debunks the current narratives of a global jihad to show that the local dynamics of an asymmetric war are more important to explain properly the resilience of insurgents. It then explores some of the causes that help understanding the prolongation of hostilities, especially the structural weakness of the military. The body count of the dirty war against Boko Haram reveals that the Nigerian security forces played no small role in killing civilians, hence the necessity to think about alternatives to military repression.