Boko Haram Terrorist Designation Act of 2013

Mr. Speaker, since November 2013, the U.S. government has declared Boko Haram and its affiliate Ansaru to be Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This supposedly provides further tools with which to fight such organizations and their sponsors. However, an Administration that resisted the FTO designation for so long continues to downplay its significance. A hearing that I held earlier this week was intended to provide information on that reluctance and on obstacles to our effective security and/or military assistance to the Nigerian government in this anti-terror fight.

Boko Haram is a Nigerian terrorist group whose full name in Arabic means ``people committed to the propagation of the Prophet's teachings and jihad.'' The name ``Boko Haram'' is a translation from Hausa meaning that conventional education (boko) is forbidden (haram).

According to various reports, Boko Haram began in 2003 when about 200 university students and unemployed youth created a camp in Yobe State near the Niger border to withdraw from what they considered the corrupt, sinful and unjust Nigerian government, and their community was supposedly founded on Islamic law. The group was then known by the nickname the Nigerian Taliban. Violent clashes with Nigerian security forces nearly destroyed the group several times, but its charismatic leader, Mohammed Yusuf kept the group alive until his death while in police custody in July 2009. Since Yusuf's death, there have been various spokesmen but one person who is believed to be the nominal leader: Abubakar Shekau. Furthermore, a breakaway group known as Ansaru has appeared on the scene, but still coordinates with the original Boko Haram.

Because of its repeated attacks against Christian targets during holy days such as Christmas and Easter, Boko Haram is seen by some as principally an anti-Christian organization. This past year alone, Boko Haram terrorists are believed to have killed more than 1,000 Christians in Nigeria. In fact, it is estimated that more than 60 percent of Christians killed worldwide because of religious intolerance die in Nigeria. However, it would not be a completely accurate interpretation of the facts to assume that what is happening in Nigeria is just a Muslim-Christian conflict.

The kidnapping of nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls in the Borno State town of Chibok on April 14 has caught the attention of the international community, albeit two weeks after the incident. However, the kidnapping of eight additional girls after that has been an afterthought, and the kidnapping of another 20 women last week has yet to receive much notice. Prior to the April kidnappings, Boko Haram had generally killed boys but let girls go, warning them to go home and give up their dreams of education. There have been previous incidents, however, in which girls have been kidnapped, though not in large numbers as in Chibok.

Now Boko Haram leaders realize that kidnapping girls gets worldwide publicity, and whether these girls are recovered or not, they know that they can do this again to get publicity for their group. The very news media used to galvanize pressure on Nigeria to obtain the freedom of the kidnapped girls is being used by Boko Haram to brag of its ability to disrupt society and taunt Nigerians and their government about their ability to take their women and girls away. Several videos, purportedly of the kidnapped Chibok girls, have been released, echoing previously- used al-Qaeda tactics in this regard.

In the past two years, our subcommittee has sent a staff delegation to investigate the Boko Haram threat; this past September, Gregory Simpkins, our subcommittee's staff director, and I visited Abuja and Jos to further look into this matter, and I just returned the other day from Abuja, where I took time out from another human rights mission in Nigeria to further investigate the ongoing struggle against this terrorist threat.

Last week, I met in Abuja with one of the Chibok girls who escaped early on in the ordeal. This brave young woman has suffered much and was clearly traumatized and in emotional pain. You could hear it in her voice and see it in her eyes as she sat motionless, recounting her story. Yet she spoke of her concern not for herself, but her friends and classmates who remain in captivity.

I met with a Muslim father of two girls abducted from the Chibok School. Fighting back tears, he said the agony was unbearable. The story of his daughters underscored the fact that Boko Haram brutalizes Muslims as well.

I also met with other Boko Haram victims, including a Christian mother whose two daughters were abducted in February 2012. She told us her husband was shot on the spot. Three months later, Boko Haram returned and asked if her son had converted to Islam. When she said no--he was shot and killed. We wasted more than a year of not using all our tools because of the specious argument that doing so would provide publicity to terrorists, and now the Administration is downplaying what the FTO designation can accomplish. There must be robust use of the benefits of this designation if we are to be successful in the battle against terrorism in Nigeria.

The three criteria for an organization to be declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. government are: 1) it must be a foreign organization, 2) it must engage in terrorist activity, and 3) it must threaten the security of United States nationals, U.S. national security or the economic interests of the United States. Clearly, Boko Haram/Ansaru meets that test. This was why I introduced H.R. 3209 last year to urge the Administration to declare Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The proliferation of voices speaking for Boko Haram and the new faction lead some to believe this is not a coherent organization, but we have learned that it is actually a very sophisticated organization operating in cells disconnected from each other but coordinating at a high level. Some also believe this group is purely a domestic terrorist group operating in Nigeria. We found that to be a false assumption as well.

Boko Haram/Ansaru does wage attacks on the Nigerian government and other domestic targets. Nevertheless, their actions prove their participation in the global jihad movement that wages violent war worldwide to establish their skewed version of Islam as the prevailing religion globally. Various actions, such as the bombing of the United Nations Abuja office in August 2011, and numerous statements from Boko Haram spokesmen indicate their international intent.

This international focus has been confirmed by American and Nigerian intelligence information. In fact, there was at least one American present during the U.N. bombing, which if the Administration had acknowledged that at the time, would have created pressure to use the FTO designation then. As recently as the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on May 21st, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewell would neither confirm nor deny that fact. In fact, the State Department has refused to confirm what we now know to be true since the 2011 U.N. building bombing. When then- Assistant Secretary of State Johnny Carson told us in our July 2012 hearing on Nigeria that Boko Haram's attacks were caused mostly by animus against the Nigerian government, he was wrong in his apportionment of cause and effect. There is tremendous animus toward the Nigerian government and an effort to embarrass President Jonathan. However, Boko Haram is determined to convert or kill Christians and Muslims they believe oppose them.

Poverty did not create Boko Haram--religious fanaticism did. Still, underdevelopment in northern Nigeria provides fodder for a level of discontent with the federal government that provides at least tacit northern support for anyone opposing the government. If northern Nigeria were its own country, it would be among the poorest, least educated, least healthy countries in the world.

Largely due to the terrorist violence in the North, an estimated 3.3 million Nigerians are displaced--making Nigeria the world's third largest displaced population, behind only Syria and Columbia. Many of those displaced people are farmers, which will certainly disrupt the next harvesting season and further impoverish Nigeria's suffering people.

Yet the blame for the perennial lack of development in northern Nigeria should not be heaped on the federal government alone. We have been told that northern states have money for development, and one national legislator from the north acknowledged that each member of Nigeria's Parliament has at least $1 million dollars (not Nigerian naira) at his or her disposal to use for constituent services. National and state governments in Nigeria have to be pushed to do more on development with money they already have. It is imperative that we provide the training and support for Nigerians to develop their own capacity to help Nigeria to end the Boko Haram threat. The Leahy Law, which forbids U.S. support for military and security forces involved in human rights violations, is seen as an obstacle to achieving that goal. We need to examine this matter further if our assistance is to be effective.

We also need to ensure that our investigative capacity under the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation is sufficient to identify those providing material and other assistance to Boko Haram. Without this element, our sanctions on Boko Haram and its leaders will not be effective.

The Boko Haram crisis is complex, but it can be understood and tackled effectively if we know the relevant facts. We had witnesses at the hearing I held who shed significant light on this situation so that we are better able to proceed in helping to end this threat to Nigeria, its neighbors, and the international community.

Mr. Speaker, last week, I spent four days in Nigeria, and while in Abuja, I met with one of the Chibok girls who escaped after the infamous mid-April Chibok school abduction.

This brave young woman has suffered much, was clearly traumatized, and in deep emotional pain. You could hear it in her voice. You could see it in her eyes, as she sat motionless, recounting her tragic story, yet she spoke of concern not for herself, but for her friends and classmates who remain in captivity. She pleaded for their rescue and for their protection.

In Nigeria last week, I met with a Muslim father of two girls abducted from the Chibok school. Fighting back tears, he said the agony was unbearable. The story of his daughters underscored the fact that Boko Haram brutalizes Muslims as well.

Last week, I also met with several other Boko Haram victims, including a Christian mother whose two daughters were abducted in February of 2012.

For the past 2 years, this mom has had no idea where her two girls are or whether or not those two daughters are dead or alive. She told me that her husband was shot on the spot when they raided her home, simply for being a Christian.

Three months later, Boko Haram returned and asked if her son had converted to Islam. When she said no, he was shot and killed.

Mr. Speaker, on another trip to Nigeria, last September, I traveled to the city of Jos and visited churches that were firebombed by Boko Haram and met with survivors, those who lost loved ones and those who have been wounded in those terrorist attacks.

In an internally displaced camp, I met with a man named Habila Adamu. Habila Adamu lived in the north, had fled to Jos, but here was a situation where Boko Haram broke into his home, put an AK-47 to his face and said: If you convert to Islam, I will spare your life. If you don't, I will shoot you.

He told the terrorists: I am ready to meet my Lord.

He was shot immediately, with his wife pleading with the terrorists not to do so. It blew away much of his face. When I met with him, I was so moved by his story, I invited him to a hearing.

When he testified, he told that story to members of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, and you could have heard a pin drop--what courage, what tenacity, what love. I was struck by the fact that he had absolutely no malice for the man who pulled the trigger, who almost turned him into a martyr.

In Jos, I also met with Archbishop Kaigama and Muslim leaders in that city who told me how Christian and Muslims were working together to assist the victims and to try to mitigate the threat, but, Mr. Speaker, the violence has gotten demonstrably worse and shows absolutely no signs of abating.

After the May 20 Boko Haram bombings in Jos that killed 118 innocent people--that is less than a month ago--and wounded at least 56, Catholic Archbishop Kaigama, an extraordinarily brave and compassionate religious leader, reminded the world that Boko Haram is faithful to its target of eliminating and destroying Christianity from parts of the country.

They only difference is that we are not just seeing Christians dying and being abducted, we are seeing attacks on Muslims, as well, who Boko Haram considers not Muslim enough.

The Archbishop said:

The international community can help in a number of

important ways. The sale of arms is of grave concern. In

short, the government needs help in cutting the supply lines

of Boko Haram.

Mr. Speaker, Emmanuel Ogebe, special counsel for the Justice for Jos Project and also a leader in the Jubilee Campaign testified yesterday:

Boko Haram continues to ravage northern Nigeria, killing

over 1,000 people in 8 weeks. The terrorists are bolder and

more diabolical than ever and have completely overrun several

borderline rural communities. Prior to the Chibok schoolgirl

abductions, much of the international response was

inattention and inaction. Now, it is attention, but

inadequate action.

Mr. Ogebe also testified that it took the United States 25 months after the first two Americans were attacked and 1 year after the third and fourth Americans were targeted before Boko Haram was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Obama administration.

I would note, for the record, that during the last 2 years, I have pushed hard--and I am not the only one in this Congress who has done so--to designate Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization, or FTO. I introduced legislation, H.R. 3209, the Boko Haram Terrorist Designation Act of 2013, in an attempt to make it so.

On December 13 of last year, I chaired yet another congressional hearing on Boko Haram and was prepared to advance the legislation. However, on the day before the hearing, the Obama administration finally announced FTO designation--late, but welcomed--which is designed, in part, to slow or help interdict the flow of arms and terror financing.

Mr. Speaker, at yesterday's hearing, we also heard from the former American Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Renee Sanders, an experienced and very distinguished diplomat, who told my committee:

Nigeria is at the beginning of a long war, and they have to

realize this. This is no longer a localized conflict or

insurgency. There is no easy fix, and every attack and

response to Boko Haram cannot be viewed as a death knell blow

to it. A long-range security framework to the terrorist

threat is what is needed.

Ambassador Sanders said:

The security services need to regroup, reapproach, and

readdress it as such, in order to begin to get off their

heels on the defensive and get on an aggressive offense. This

has not happened yet, and Boko Haram has not only succeeded

in terrorizing 60,000 square miles of territory, but it is

also evident that, with the late April 2014 attacks, that

they have the ability to reach locations just 15 kilometers

outside of Abuja, either with sleeper cells or with bombs

getting past checkpoints.

Current Nigerian security services have never experienced

anything like this, like what it is facing with Boko Haram.

Boko Haram is executing asymmetrical warfare, and for the

most part, this is outside of the framework of the security

forces and their capability to effectively respond.

Among Ambassador Sanders' recommendations were additional material, especially mobile communications equipment, vehicles, technologically- based bomb detection equipment; improved control over their very porous borders; improved military planning, logistics, equipment and supplies, including sufficient spare parts and fuel; expanded small Special Forces units and a 24-7 counterterrorism center; establishing a satellite CT center closer to the northeast region, so information doesn't take so long to react to or to be analyzed; and more rapid response forces, or what we call mobile units, and probably more outposts.

Another expert at yesterday's hearing, Dr. Peter Pham, director, Africa Center, Atlantic Council, testified:

A comprehensive strategy is required to respond to the

burgeoning threat posed by Boko Haram, including the

promotion of specialized training for Nigerian security

forces. Undoubtedly, the Nigerian security forces, both

military and police, need that assistance in the fight.

However, the need is less a matter of personnel and equipment

than training, especially in intelligence and investigations.

Mr. Speaker, while some training has begun--and U.S. military personnel deserve high praise and thanks for their professionalism, skill, and commitment--much more needs to be done. Human rights vetting must be improved so that eligible soldiers are not wrongfully excluded and intelligence cooperation needs to be expanded.

Let me also express my gratitude to our Embassy personnel for also working overtime in trying to mitigate this threat and to do the work that the Embassy does so selflessly. They are doing a wonderful job, and I appreciate their work in hosting and helping with my trip there.

Finally, just let me say, nothing has galvanized global opinion and a sense of extreme urgency more than the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, and now other girls since. Some 20 more girls were just abducted by Boko Haram.

Despite escalating threats of terrorism, however, many Nigerians, including and especially the faith community--Catholics, Evangelicals, Muslims--have responded with extraordinary courage, resiliency, resolve, and empathy for the victims, and they hope and they are working to ensure that Boko Haram--the whole country--is stopped.

Counterinsurgency training and intelligence capacity are among the highest priorities, and my hope is that more, not less, will be done going forward in order to mitigate this threat and to end the reign of terror that is being promoted by Boko Haram.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, Nigeria is one of the United States' main allies, African trading partners, and a major economic and political force beyond the African continent. Unfortunately, it continues to be plagued by terrorist forces whose reach extends beyond the borders of that country. Last week, I held a hearing is to examine the extent to which the organization known as Boko Haram and its affiliates pose a threat to Nigeria and the region, as well as the United States, and the rest of the international community.

Boko Haram is a Nigerian terrorist group whose name in Arabic means ``people committed to the propagation of the Prophet's teachings and jihad.'' The name ``Boko Haram'' is a translation from Hausa meaning that conventional education (boko) is forbidden (haram). Because of its repeated attacks against Christian targets during holy days such as Christmas and Easter, Boko Haram is seen by some as principally an anti-Christian organization. In the last year alone, Boko Haram terrorists are believed to have killed 1,200 Christians in Nigeria. In fact, it is estimated that more than 60 percent of Christians killed worldwide because of religious intolerance die in Nigeria. This year alone, according to Emmanuel Ogebe, one of today's witnesses, 53 Christian churches have been attacked, and 216 people were murdered by terrorists in them.

However, it would not be a completely accurate interpretation of the facts to assume that what is happening in Nigeria is just a Muslim- Christian conflict.

In the past two years, two subcommittees have sent staff delegations to investigate the Boko Haram threat, and this past September Gregory Simpkins, the Africa subcommittee's staff director, and I visited Abuja and Jos to further look into this matter. We found that the truth of this organization is much more complex than is widely understood. Although exact numbers were not made available to us, Boko Harm is definitely targeting other Muslims who don't agree with their views. Muslim religious leaders who criticize the terrorist violence are themselves made targets. What must be prevented is a growing inability for Christians and Muslims to work together to meet their common threat.

According to various reports, Boko Haram began in 2003 when about 200 university students and unemployed youth created a camp in Yobe State near the Niger border to withdraw from what they considered the corrupt, sinful and unjust Nigerian Government, and their community was supposedly founded on Islamic law. The group was then known by the nickname the Nigerian Taliban. Violent clashes with Nigerian security forces nearly destroyed the group several times, but its charismatic leader, Mohammed Yusuf kept the group alive until his death while in police custody in July 2009.

Since Yusuf's death, there have been various spokesmen but one person who is believed to be the nominal leader: Abubakar Shekau. Furthermore, a breakaway group known as Ansaru has appeared on the scene.

The proliferation of voices speaking for Boko Haram and the new faction lead some to believe this is not a coherent organization. We learned that it is actually a very sophisticated organization operating in cells disconnected from each other but coordinating at a high level. While there are those acting in the name of Boko Haram for their own purposes, this terrorist group is organized, albeit in an unconventional manner.

Some also believe this group is purely a domestic terrorist group operating in Nigeria. We found that to be a false assumption as well. Boko Haram/Ansaru does wage attacks on the Nigerian Government and other domestic targets. Nevertheless, their actions prove their participation in the global jihad movement that wages violent war worldwide to establish their skewed version of Islam as the prevailing religion globally. Various actions, such as the bombing of the United Nations Abuja office in August 2011, and numerous statements from Boko Haram spokesmen indicate their international intent. This international focus has been confirmed by American and Nigerian intelligence information.

The three criteria for an organization to be declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Government are: 1) it must be a foreign organization, 2) it must engage in terrorist activity and 3) it must threaten the security of United States nationals, U.S. national security or the economic interests of the United States. Clearly Boko Haram/Ansaru meets that test. This is why I have introduced H.R. 3209 to urge the Administration to declare Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization. This measure would better provide tools for stopping those who currently provide funding or other support for this murderous, terrorist organization, and I welcome the State Department's enactment today of this designation.

Our government has provided training and other assistance to the Nigerian government to battle this terrorist threat. Unfortunately, the past brutality demonstrated by the Nigerian security forces, as well as the inability of Nigerian security forces to collaborate with one another, have prevented this effort from being as successful as it should be. In far too many cases, the Nigerian government itself has actually turned local people in the North against its effort to end the terrorist threat. By its ineffectiveness, the Nigerian security forces have pushed Nigerian Christians and Muslims to form their own militias to protect themselves from terrorists and each other. In the long run, this development makes eventual reconciliation of Nigeria's various religious and ethnic communities more difficult.

At last week's hearing, we had with us the administration's point person for our government's effort to help end the terrorist threat in Nigeria, a leading Nigerian Muslim spokesman against this terrorism, a Nigerian Christian expert on this terrorist threat, an American-based expert on this violence and a survivor of the Boko Haram threat. The survivor, Mr. Habila Adamu, was challenged to renounce his Christian faith. When he refused, he was shot by terrorists and left for dead. Miraculously, he survived and joined us last week with one of the most inspiring examples of faith any of us will ever hear.

I hope last week's hearing will provide a fuller understanding of this terrorist threat and explain why declaring Boko Haram/Ansaru as a Foreign Terrorist Organization as part of our government's effort to end this menace and its ongoing financial support was such a necessary decision.