Comment l’analyse des politiques publiques offre des pistes d’analyse des acteurs, des décisions dans la lutte contre Boko Haram?

Introduction

Founded in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri, the capital of the north-eastern state of Borno, Boko Haram has sought to establish an Islamic State in Nigeria. The group’s objective is to overthrow the Nigerian government, which it claims is too Western-friendly and does not honor Islam. It has already pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Boko Haram became very radical; bombing and engaging the Nigerian military in direct combat in 2009. In 2014, the group gained international notoriety after it kidnapped some 300 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in Borno State. Human rights groups estimate that Boko Haram has killed some 20,000 people, and displaced around 2.3 million vulnerable people from their homes.

Due to the inability of the Nigerian military to stop the group, Boko Haram has become a threat to neighboring countries. Any neighboring country who declares publicly to help the Nigerian government fight the group, becomes a primary target for Boko Haram. Currently, Boko Haram spans across Chad, Cameroon, and Niger. All of these countries have pledged to help fight the insurgents. Boko Haram has responded by turning the heat on them the group carries regular suicide bombings in towns and villages in these countries.

How does public policy analysis help us analyse the actors and decision-makers related to the fight angainst Boko Haram.

In this essay, we will analyse the fight against Boko Haram using Charles Jones analysis and incrementalism. Jones proposed five steps to analyse public policies:

 Identification of the problem

 Development of a programme which is actually the proper phase of problem treatment

 Decision/Implementation which is the phase of adaptation of decisions. This phase consists of organizing and interpreting governmental directives and their application. At this moment, solutions are concretised.

 The evaluation of the public policy, which corresponds to measuring and analyzing the results.

 The completion of the policy, because the problem that led to its placement has been resolved. This phase closes the action or could mark the start of another action.

I Analysis of actors related to the fight against Boko Haram

A) Indentification of the problem

A variety of actors, took part in this process

International Organisations: Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been involved at this stage. The NGOs were critical of both security forces and book Haram and stated that Boko Haram should immediately cease all attacks, and threats of attacks, that cause loss of life, injury, and destruction of property. As for the Nigerian government, both organizations said it should take urgent measures to address the human rights abuses that have helped fuel the violent militancy.

The Nigerian government: As far back as 2012, the Nigerian government established a state of emergency when the Islamist group started perpetuating ever violent attacks like suicide bombings on police buildings and on the United Nations office in Nigeria. This emergency state was extended in the following year to cover the whole northeast of Nigeria. Instead of stopping the attacks, the state of emergency would however usher in an escalation of violence. The opening three weeks of 2012 accounted for more than half of the death total of the preceding year. Two days after the state of emergency was declared, Boko Haram released an ultimatum to southern Nigerians living in the north, giving them three days to leave. Three days after which they began a series of mostly small-scale attacks on Christians and members of the Igbo ethnic group, causing hundreds to flee

The UN Security Council condemned increasing Boko Haram attacks and warned of 'crimes against humanity'

 The United Nations Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the escalation in attacks conducted by Boko Haram, and expressed its deep concern that the activities of the Islamist extremist group, including a spate of shocking suicide bombings across northern Nigeria, were undermining peace and stability in the West and Central African region.

Step 2: Development of a programme which is actually the proper phase of problem treatment. In this phase, both actors(groups) and decision makers participated in brainstorming on solutions to fight against the terrorist group. We will first take a look at the decision makers’ role then will move on to the other players.

Decision Makers:

A) United Nations Security Council's president issued a statement in which it called for the enhancement of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF)’s operational capacity.

B) The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) between Nigeria, Chad and Niger was reactivated in order to deal with Boko Haram. It had been put in place in 1998 in order to combat transnational crime in the Lake Chad region, but was mostly dormant until 2012, when it was reactivated in order to deal with Boko Haram. The Paris Summit of May 2014, brought together the heads of state of Benin, Chad, Cameroon, France, Niger and Nigeria, and representatives of the US, UK and EU, in its decision to enhance regional cooperation in the fight against Boko Haram, by means of coordinated patrols and border surveillance, pooling intelligence and exchanging relevant information.

C) In October 2014, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) member states (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria) and Benin decided to improve their cooperation to combat Boko Haram, by pledging troops to the MNJFT, which should have become operational inside national borders by November 2014.

D) It was also decided to ask the African Union (AU) and the UN to establish the appropriate legal framework for cross-border military operations. At the beginning of 2015, the MNJTF headquarters fell into the hands of Boko Haram militants, together with the town of Baga in north-eastern Nigeria where it was sited.

Cameroonian Authourities and Volunteer local vigilantes

 Cameroon

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