Nigerian Government Asks UN al Qaeda Committee To Blacklist Boko Haram

Nigeria has formally asked the United Nations Security Council al Qaeda Sanctions Committee to blacklist the Islamist group Boko Haram. This information is contained in a confidential document obtained by Reuters.

A screen capture taken from the latest Boko Haram video shows the alleged kidnapped girls dressed in the full-length hijabs and praying in an undisclosed rural location. Credit: AFP

Until recently, Nigeria had been reluctant to seek international assistance to combat the sect. But the abduction of nearly 300 school girls seems to have made the government change its mind.
If there is no objection by the 15-member council committee, which operates by consensus, Boko Haram will be sanctioned on Thursday, May 22. The sanctions would include an international asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

Nigeria is one of the 10 current non-permanent member of the Security Council, a UN body primarily responsible for maintaining  peace and security.

The Nigerian mission to the United Nations in its letter to the committee said that the Boko Haram listing request had been "necessitated by the recent upsurge in its activities, particularly in northeast Nigeria".

Man claiming to be leader of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, in video screen capture, unknown location, September 25, 2013.

The draft UN listing entry describes Boko Haram as an affiliate of al Qaeda and the Organisation of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"Boko Haram has maintained a relationship with the Organisation of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb for training and material support purposes," according to the draft narrative summary accompanying the proposed listing.

"For example, Boko Haram gained valuable knowledge on the construction of improvised explosive devices from AQIM. A number of Boko Haram members fought alongside al Qaeda affiliated groups in Mali 2012 and 2013 before returning to Nigeria with terrorist expertise," it reads.

The draft narrative summary also references attacks in 2013 and 2014, stating that "since summer 2012, Boko Haram has undertaken a campaign of violence against Nigerian schools and students."

Boko Haram has attacked many schools in northern Nigeria.

Nigeria's request also references a bomb attack on the UN' Nigeria headquarters on August 26, 2011 that killed 24 people and a Christmas Day 2011 bombing of a church in Madalla, on the outskirts of Abuja, that took lived of 37 people.

Earlier this week the US State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator stated that Boko Haram was not a branch of Al Qaeda and "should be treated as its 'own terrorist group".

Council diplomats told Reuters they did not expect any objections to the blacklisting of the sect, but said the expedited three-day time frame for approval by governments could be too tight for some members.

Who are Boko Haram?