The South African Civil Society Information Service

Making Sense of Boko Haram Attacks on Nigerian Civilians

14 Jan 2015

Earlier news reports, which stated that terrorist group Boko Haram killed 2,000 people in the Nigerian town of Baga have been revised down to 150 by Nigerian authorities. Nevertheless, authorities have also been accused of undercounting civilian deaths to downplay the threat of the group. Nii Akuetteh an independent analyst of African affairs says that Boko Haram has been in existence for five years and killed more civilians than soldiers in this time. He argues that they offer no convincing reason for their actions, except that they want to make Nigeria ungovernable. Beyond that, it's hard to say what they are really going after.

Nii Akuetteh is an independent analyst of African & international affairs, seen regularly on Al Jazeera and many other global TV outlets and published frequently, especially by Pambazuka News. He is the former Executive Director of Africa Action, and he was a professor of African Studies at Georgetown University.

Find part two of this interview here.

© The Real News Network

Read more articles filed under Videos.

Read more articles tagged with: Boko Haram, Nigeria.

You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/2244.