英闻天下——105 2012 Review: Counterterrorism in Africa

 　　Africa, which has long been mired 1 in poverty and hunger, is now beginning to deal with more problems connected to terrorism.

 
　　As such, today's key words are "Counterterrorism in Africa."
 
　　CRI's Zhou Jingnan has more.
 
　　"This is the building of the Catholic church, the corner completely destroyed by the car bomb, the roof also blown open, you can see sheets of the corrugated 2 iron…"
 
　　This is BBC's Will Ross reporting from the site of a blast at a Catholic church in northern Nigeria which was carried out by the Islamist militant 3 group Boko Haram in October.
 
　　This suicide bombing is just one of many similar assaults against the Catholic miniorty in Nigeria's Muslim-populated north.
 
　　Over a thousand people have been killed in attacks by Boko Haram since 2011.
 
　　With a name loosely translated as "western education is forbidden", Boko Haram began as a religious teaching organization trying to have strict Sharia law introduced throughout Nigeria in 2002.
 
　　Initially 4 a peaceful organization, the group turned to violence in 2009 by utilizing 5 gunmen on motorbikes to kill police and politicians.
 
　　The University of Oxford's professor of African politics, David Anderson, says the root cause of Boko Haram's existence is more than religion.
 
　　"Boko Haram is made of a religious belief, yes, but it's also strongly political. In the origins of the movement, tried to create it as a group that could be used to show dissent 6 against the government. So the root of Boko Haram's origin is the sense that the Nigerian state is not legitimate 7, that the people don't believe in it. "
 
　　The Nigerian government has been cracking down on Boko Haram over the past three years, but has so far had little luck in keeping the group in check.
 
　　While most politicians in Nigeria are downplaying negotiations 8 as an option, a growing minority is suggesting dialogue may be the only way forward.
 
　　Human rights activist 9 Shehu Sani:
 
　　"I believe there is a need to have a power country intervention 10, an Islamic country on-behalf like Qatar, Turkey or Saudi Arabia, need to provide a platform that will bring in representatives of the government and Boko Haram to the table. So that was a …this issue can come to an end. "
 
　　In eastern Africa, Somalia is slowly beginning to see the restoration of stability.
 
　　The al-Qaeda linked militant group al-Shebab has been pushed out of all of the main towns they once controlled in the southern and central parts of the country.
 
　　The African Union troops, along with the government forces, have forced al-Shebab to leave several of its former strategic strongholds, including the vital port of Kismayo.
 
　　At the same time, Somali piracy 11 off the Horn of Africa has fallen to a three-year low in 2012 because of coordination 12 by international navies, including China, on top of the use of armed security guards by shipping 13 companies.
 
　　70 attacks were reported by ships in the first nine months of the year 2012, compared with almost 200 incidents during the same period in 2011.
 
　　The formation of a new government in Somalia in September has also breathed hope into the country, which was lawless for nearly 2-decades following a brutal 14 civil war that left the country without a functioning national government.
 
　　However, not all are optimistic about the new prospects 15 for Somalia.
 
　　Antoine Lokongo is a former London-based journalist from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
 
　　"That is just a caretaker government, which will not solve the problem as such, you know, you are just driving al-Shebab underground, and the pirates they will not give up. Why? Because what is needed in Somalia is a political solution, not a military solution."
 
　　With Nigeria still facing frequent military attacks by Boko Haram, and Al Shebab remaining a potent 16 threat to the government, political solutions and mediation 17 do seem to be in urgent need in the terrorism-troubled parts of Africa.
 
　　For CRI, I'm Zhou Jingnan.