TWO months after a hashtag brought Nigeria's Islamic insurgency to international attention, the security situation continues to deteriorate, posing a growing crisis for Goodluck Jonathan's embattled government.
The world started paying attention after the militia group Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from Borno state in April. But that was just one episode in a near-constant stream of violence by the insurgents, who have their stronghold in the country's northeast.
Over the past year, the number of terrorist attacks in Nigeria has almost doubled, killing close to 3,500 people, according to the risk analysis group Maplecroft. Abductions have been a common tactic of the group, which either holds hostages for ransom or sells them as slaves. But since the girls were taken, it has stepped the practice up a gear. More than 100 people have been kidnapped since May, Maplecroft reckons, implying that the organisation is increasingly using hostages to boost its international profile and bargain with the...Continue reading
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