Boko Haram, an Exception within the Jihadist Movement?
Boko Haram was created in 2002 and has been led since 2010 by Abubakar Shekau; however, we still know little about it.
Classified variously as a sect, an insurrectionist movement, a terrorist or jihadi organization, it is thriving in a country where poverty and corruption are devastating. Local populations are caught between two evils: on one side is Boko Haram burning villages and kidnapping young women; and on the other is the Nigerian army, using brutal tactics and worsening the situation.
Article published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 80, No. 2, Summer 2015