Tackling Insurgency in Nigeria Defies Single Formula

Posted: August 30th, 2017

By John Campbell

John Campbell is the Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007, and served as a Foreign Service Officer for over 30 years with postings in Lyon, Paris, Geneva, Pretoria, and more. Campbell also served as dean of the Foreign Service Institute's School of Language Studies and director of the Office of UN Political Affairs. His published books include Morning in South Africa and Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink. Campbell received a BA and MA from the University of Virginia and a PhD in seventeenth century English history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Although deaths from the terrorist group Boko Haram are down since they peaked in 2012, the group continues to wreak havoc across the northern part of Nigeria. In 2015, the U.S. pledged more military assistance to help fight the insurgency. But as former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell tells The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder, a military-only solution will not solve the problem. Ambassador Campbell, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, talks with Kaitlin about the increase in Boko Haram attacks over the past few months and why it is difficult to implement a robust response to thwart future attacks.

The Cipher Brief: A report from Voice of America last month, using data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, found terror-related deaths across Africa are down from highs in 2012. However, you told me that Boko Haram related deaths have been on the rise over the past few months. What is causing this rise? And are Boko Haram related deaths so far this year still lower than compared to 2012?

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