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Thursday 15 May 2014

More on Boko Haram - it isn't just the girls.

Prominent Anglican blogger Cranmer has two powerful posts on Boko Haram's war in Nigeria.

Firstly, this one where lays out his point in words. Then he posted this one where his pictures speak for themselves.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxdwwrAPA-w7aBnoWmwceeEu8itQAfyhnmUx8gbOZMIi7u8eCZafg5NJ_312QdC3pg-if5-PEHmUMTuho7qqzv1meXNrdXjDhqdi2A-86aS3neRV37WfjxL8CwspR0lBzlmANA1TgVAkP/s1600/Nigeria+boys.jpg

As I said in my previous post, the war between Islam and Christianity in Nigeria has been going on for years.

Australian cleric, the Rev. Dr. Mark Durie has posted an interview in which he exposes the ancient Islamic roots of Boko Haram. You can listen to the interview below or read his additional; material by following the previous link to his blog.

He is not alone in declaing this information. Over at The Omega Letter, J.L. Robb has posted an article doing much the same thing but also enumerating the effects of Sharia law on women. Here is a sample of that list.
  • Adultery is a capital crime, punishable by whipping and then death, often by stoning.
  • Apostasy (saying or thinking something uncomplimentary about Islam or Muhammad) is a capital crime to be punished by death. Apostates are to be “killed wherever they may be found.”
  • Female genital mutilation to make sure sex isn’t too enjoyable for the women.
  • Women are considered inferior to men. Court testimony by a woman only counts for half of the testimony by a man. Women receive only half the inheritance that a man receives. A woman’s vote, if she is allowed to vote, counts one-half of a man’s vote.

It carries on in the same vein.

The excellent 'Barnabas Fund' has been involved in the campaign in the US to get Boko Haram registered as a terrorist organisation. The following is part of the article on their website.

"Our honorary director in the US, Bishop Julian Dobbs, worked with others to petition the State Department and other government agencies to designate Boko Haram as an FTO. On one occasion Bishop Dobbs was assisted by the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church in Nigeria who made the case in the corridors of power on behalf of suffering Nigerian Christians. 
Bishop Dobbs, who is an Anglican missionary bishop of the Church of Nigeria, said the FTO designation was significant for three reasons:
Firstly, it shows that the US government has realised that it’s a serious situation and is concerned about it. Secondly, the FTO label enables certain US resources, such as military and intelligence, to be involved in circumstances like we are seeing now with the kidnapped girls. And thirdly, it helps us to heighten awareness about our brothers and sisters in Nigeria suffering at the hands of what we can now call a terrorist organisation.
He said that the US government continues to dismiss the religious motivation of Boko Haram, insisting that it is an ethnic and social issue:
The next step is to get all Western governments to recognise the clear religious motivation of Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia across all of Nigeria and rid the country of any Christian presence. Our brothers and sisters in the North continue to suffer on a daily basis as a result of the group’s atrocities."

According to  UK national newspaper 'The Daily Mail', Boko Haram have links to the Nigerian Army, which could well explain why this is all taking so long, see here.

Britain and the US have both sent teams and equipment to Nigeria.

The abductions have triggered a worldwide social media campaign under the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, and prompted the U.S., Britain, France and Israel to offer help or send experts to Nigeria.
The U.S. has already sent military, law-enforcement and development specialists.
Two U.S. officials said on Tuesday a mix of manned and unmanned American surveillance aircraft were being used to aid the search for the missing girls.
One U.S. official identified the drone as a Global Hawk, which is a high-altitude, unmanned spy plane manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

Britain has also offered Nigeria a surveillance plane and a military team to help with the search for the missing schoolgirls, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday.
'Today I can announce we have offered Nigeria further assistance in terms of surveillance aircraft, a military team to embed with the Nigerian army in their HQ and a team to work with U.S. experts to analyse information on the girls' location,' he told parliament.
The Ministry of Defence clarified that one Sentinel plane would be sent.
The new offer of help comes after Britain Britain last week sent a team of experts to Nigeria including officials from the ministry of defence.
Mr Cameron's spokesman said on Monday they had met Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan.
Britain's minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, is also travelling to the Nigerian capital today for talks on further assistance, the Foreign Office in London said.

I don't know what the French are doing, but 'Israel Today' has reported that Israeli security forces have joined the effort to free the girls, see here.

Boko Haram are not some crazy African terrorist gang, but part of a back-to-basics Islamic reformation that takes its example from Islam's founder, see here and here

Rev. Doctor Mark Durie's video: 

 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post, Ian. I narrowly missed a talk by Mark Durie the other week - a friend emailed me about it but I didn't see the email in time. I was so disappointed!

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  2. There aren't many people I think are worth going to hear. These days what's in my mind is always, "Tell me something I don't know". I think that Mark Durie could manage that, easily. I sympathise with your disappointment. You might get another chance. I 'll have to wait until till he comes to the UK or I go to Australia ;-(.

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