Ashish Kumar Sen

Nigeria’s Buhari Goes to Washington Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will on April 30 hold the distinction of becoming the first African president to meet US President Donald J. Trump at the White House in Washington.  

Millions in Nigeria are Starving, Warns UN Official Millions of people are starving in northeastern Nigeria and efforts to reach out to Boko Haram—the Islamist militant group directly responsible for their plight—to ensure a space to deliver humanitarian aid have been met by silence, a senior United Nations official said on April 15.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram Casts a Shadow Over President Buhari’s Sunny Victory Claim  A recent spate of deadly attacks by Boko Haram only serve to underscore the fact that despite Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s optimistic proclamations on the war against the Islamist militants, the group is far from finished, said J. Peter Pham, Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. “This is a group that has, over the course of the decade and a half that it has been active, shown remarkable resilience and an almost uncanny ability to reinvent itself,” Pham said.

Walking a Fine Line in the War Against Boko Haram  As it steps into the war against Boko Haram, the Obama administration will have to balance the need to deal with the regional threat posed by the Islamist militants and the very real limitation of resources, said J. Peter Pham, Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.

Nigerian President Slams US Law Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari—at war with Boko Haram militants at home—in a July 22 address in Washington lashed out at US laws that ban the sale of weapons to foreign militaries accused of human rights violations saying such restrictions have only aided the insurgency.

President Buhari Comes to Washington  Nigeria’s war on Boko Haram will be at the top of the agenda when US President Barack Obama meets his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari at the White House July 20, says the Atlantic Council’s J. Peter Pham.

What Happened to #BringBackOurGirls? A global campaign that focused attention on the plight of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram a year ago overlooked the region’s larger humanitarian crisis, said Atlantic Council analyst J. Peter Pham. 

In Nigeria, Jonathan’s Luck Runs Out Opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari’s strategy of assembling a broad coalition and restricting President Goodluck Jonathan to his traditional power base helped the former military ruler to a decisive victory in Nigeria’s March 28 presidential elections, according to Atlantic Council analyst J. Peter Pham.

Election Uncertainty Would Deal Another Blow to Nigeria’s Economy   The absence of a clear winner in Nigeria’s presidential elections could deal another blow to the country’s economy, which is already reeling from falling crude oil prices, says Atlantic Council analyst Aubrey Hruby.

Rights and Wrongs: US Law Hurting Ties, Says Nigerian Official  A US law that bans the sale of weapons to foreign forces accused of human rights violations is “hindering” cooperation between the United States and Nigeria, even as Abuja wages war against Boko Haram militants, a top Nigerian intelligence official said March 11.

Conditions Ripe for Electoral Violence in Nigeria  The fact that the militant group Boko Haram controls vast swaths of territory in northeastern Nigeria will likely disenfranchise voters and has elevated the danger of post-election violence, according to Atlantic Council analysts.

The Other Massacre   While the world’s media has been focused on the terrorist attacks in Paris, Boko Haram, the deadliest militant group in Africa today, reportedly massacred more than 2,000 people in northeastern Nigeria. The massacre was carried out in Baga near the border with Chad, where the militants seized a key military base on January 3. Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International, said the killings “could be Boko Haram’s deadliest act.” And yet news coverage in the Western media in the days after the massacre was dominated by the terrorist attacks in Paris where two brothers who trained with al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine, killing 12 people. A friend of the brothers’ who claimed ties to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in a separate attack killed five more people.  

Massacre in Nigeria: Boko Haram Once Again Bigger, More Brutal  As world attention fixes on the terrorist attacks in Paris, Africa’s most prominent Islamist militant group has massacred as many as 2,000 people in northeastern Nigeria. This new violence by Boko Haram—a movement described as “Africa’s ISIS”—is the latest in its campaign to undermine governments’ authority and create what it calls an Islamic caliphate across a wide swath of the Sahel, one of Africa’s poorest and least-governed regions.

Massacre in Nigeria: Boko Haram Once Again Bigger, More Brutal As world attention fixes on the terrorist attacks in Paris, Africa’s most prominent Islamist militant group has massacred as many as 2,000 people in northeastern Nigeria. This new violence by Boko Haram—a movement described as “Africa’s ISIS”—is the latest in its campaign to undermine governments’ authority and create what it calls an Islamic caliphate across a wide swath of the Sahel, one of Africa’s poorest and least-governed regions.

Nigeria’s Finance Minister on How Falling Oil Prices Impact on Africa’s Biggest Economy Nigeria is surprised by a US decision to slash oil imports from Africa's top petroleum producer, but is eager to deepen its economic relationship with the US in other areas, according to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's finance and economy minister.

'The U.S. should be finding ways to engage with Boko Haram'   Boko Haram, the militant Islamist group that has a foothold in northern Nigeria, has begun to consolidate control over large swathes of territory threatening the stability of Nigeria and its neighbors. The militants have resorted to using female suicide bombers as they ramp up their fight against the Nigerian government ahead of elections in February.   Bronwyn E. Bruton , deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center, attributes Boko Haram's rise to the Nigerian government's failure to deliver good governance and the atrocities committed by Nigerian security forces.

Boko Haram Steps Up Offensive as Nigeria Halts US Military Training Program  Boko Haram, the African militant group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) over the summer, appears to have borrowed a page from the jihadists' playbook as it unleashes a deadly wave of attacks across northern Nigeria in its quest to carve out an Islamic state rooted in Shariah law.

Spread of brutal Nigerian terrorist group alarms U.S.   Boko Haram , the al Qaeda -inspired African terrorist group fighting to establish an Islamic state rooted in Shariah law, is expanding its operations from northeastern Nigeria into neighboring Cameroon and Niger — much to the alarm of U.S. officials.