TERRORISM: Comprehending the globalcarnage and security complications

Ntoka Gabriel c.

INTRODUCTIONIt was just under 2 years ago when the United Nations led theeuphoria in celebrating the world’s population reaching the 7billion mark yet, a dreadful revelation was made by the World HealthOrganisation that about 1.5 million people suffer from violenceannually. Majority of the victims of violence since the inception ofthe 20th century have been from terrorist attacks. The 2014 GlobalTerrorism Index Report postulates the number of deaths recorded as aconsequence of terrorism globally shot up to 61 percent. Therefore,why is there such a high number of causalities from terrorism? Whyhas terrorism being on the alarming increase instead subsidizing?What are the motives of these extremist groups? Why do they employguerrilla tactics? And what are the state actors doing toexterminate such menace? All these lurking questions and so manymore which are puzzling in the mind of this writer is the reason whythis article is being written, to give a clear understanding aboutthe intricacies surrounding terrorism and the battle against it.

CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONThe United States Department of State defines terrorism as a“premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated againstnon-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents,usually intended to influence an audience.”

The same government department defined international terrorism as“terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than onecountry.”

Since this article is focused on international terrorism, we shallfocus solely on radical groups who have committed such dreaded actof murder and violence with the template of the above definition.These groups include the rave of the moment, IS/ISIL/ISIS (TheIslamic State also known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant),Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), The Taliban,

Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad (also known as BokoHaram), Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (also known as Al-Shabaab),and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), all these groupsamongst the other militant groups internationally are ranked as veryimportant non-state actors presently in the 21st century and surelythe most lethal non-state actors. It is also pertinent to state herethat sometimes a clandestine group of people, small in number oreven a lone ranger (one man attack) devoid of authority from largerterrorist groups but with similar motive/ideology execute terrorattacks on non-combatants.

THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONIn order to have an insight into the motives of terrorists and whythey exist, the evergreen theory of the state, class struggle andrevolution by political philosopher, Karl Marx could help quenchthis thirst of inquisition. In his classic bulletin, the CommunistManifesto published in 1848, Marx argued that the state arose as aresult of irreconcilable antagonism in the society and thereforedeemed it as a class struggle where the masses whom he called theproletariat would struggle against an executive arm called thebourgeoisie whom he said are controlling the state and are using thestate as an instrument of class rule. Marx went on further to saythat the class would ‘wither away’ following the impendingrevolution by the masses that would soon realise political self-consciousness as a result of their shabby treatment in the society.The reasoning would no longer be of ideas being the determinantfactor of the society as postulated by Hegel rather Marx saysmaterial well-being would be the sole focus of man in terms ofsurvival as his mark of consciousness. This of course would lead tosocial change where the middle class and the industrial workingclass with the help of the other lesser classes (petit bourgeoisie,lumpen proletariat, landlords, peasants and farmers) would finallyrise up, eliminate the class struggle and the society becomes aclassless society as they assume political and economic power andwould lead to the establishment of a new proletarian social order.As Marx aptly describes, “the history of all hitherto society is thehistory of class struggle.” The fall of feudalism around the 16th-18th

century historically transpired as a result of class struggle whichtherefore puts Marx’s postulation in positive limelight but thetheory failed to garner more support and was rendered totallyinapplicable after the French evolution of 1789 where it could notstop the rise of capitalism after the collapse of the French

monarchy, the Tiananmen protests of 1989 in China and more recently,the Arab Spring where the new proletarian social order has not beenestablished despite the proletarians leading the struggle althoughit could be said to be partially applied and successful in theBolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the Chinese Communist Revolution of1949.

HISTORY OF TERRORISMTerrorism has been part of man’s life from existence. Various formsof violence and horror occurred at various times during theformation of the society as Thomas Hobbes would inform us in hissocial contract theory, The Leviathan where he described the state ofnature as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” because mightsuperseded reasoning and therefore became the only route towardssurvival. For various centuries, man had witnessed all forms ofmayhems, some recorded and others not. Modern terrorism howevercould be traced to the Reign of Terror which occurred during the 18th

century which was an integral component of the French revolution asthe conflict between the Girondins and the Jacobins heightened, massexecutions of those who were against the revolution took place inorder to compel obedience to the state and intimidate regimeenemies. This continued till the mid-19th century when anarchicalgroups sprung up and were termed non-governmental groups and thesegroups made an unheralded stride murdering a Russian Tsar and anAmerican President.

It is apt to say however that sophisticated and brutal terrorism wasfully activated in the 20th century where the new phenomenon knew noboundaries and since then, has never looked back. The rise ofcolonial territories as independent states after the ratificationand signing of the Atlantic charter in 1941, nationalism and post-colonial arrangement of these countries could be seen as a majordeterminant of rising advanced insurgency in the 20th century. Thisperiod witnessed the rise of various militant and nationalist groupswho were fighting for their nation’s independence and also thestruggle for power in Africa, Latin America and even Europe. TheCold War also played an important part in the rise of this newbutchery sensation. Although the Cold War was described as an“ideological” war between the Eastern and Western blocs with littleor no confrontation, the arms race which was at a ludicrouslyvolatile rate and the development of hi-tech and high-level weaponryand arsenals which included nuclear weapons ensured arms weredistributed along the bloc lines and could have fallen into the

wrong hands of oppressive governments and power-hungeringindividuals and groups in the leftist and rightist movements. Thisperiod also saw series of state sponsored brutalities where statesthrough the instrumentality of their armed forces and violent groupswent on a barbaric spree of murder against people who were againsttheir political leadership. This occurred mainly in Africa and thedefunct Soviet Union.

Today’s brutal form of terrorism however takes its roots from theMiddle East/Gulf region dilemma. The region is very rich in terms ofresources and it is an area that is strategically located in termsof geography but internal strife which was catastrophicmetamorphosed into a regional crisis which led to escalated andunquantifiable violence which continues to be the bane of the regiontoday and more importantly, the region saw the foundation of highlydeveloped and international terrorism and till today serves as abase for the cruel insurgents. The never-ending Arab-Israeliconflict (Palestine-Israel, Iran-Israel crisis), the Iran-Iraq war,Afghanistan-Soviet Union conflict and Afghanistan Civil War (1996-2001) were spurring factors in developing modern terrorism. Theseset of events did lay a template for the current predicament whichhas bewildered the Middle East and the World in general as thefallout of these crises has gone on to instigate, propel and upholda significant role in the 21st century terror against the globalpopulation.

TERRORISTS MOTIVESIn this day and age and without little hesitation, the insurgentsare always willing and ready to intensify sorrows upon allindividuals of different background. What is spurring them to dothat? What is their motive? Some reasons have been articulated as towhy there is such an unrepentant approach from the rebels. Firstly,the issue of bad governance has been postulated as a reason whyterrorism prevails. In most countries where insurgency is a problem,the terrorists as a ploy stated problematic matters such ascorruption, abusive/abrasive nature of government, nepotism,sectarianism, lack of social welfare, poverty as issues why theyprop up in order to “liberate” the country from such unscrupulousgovernment and they get sympathy from the citizens who might begenuinely upset at the government’s nature and even some evenvoluntarily join the extremist groups in support while some areforcefully recruited by the extremists. The operation of Al Qaeda inIraq and lately Syria and the rise of ISIS in both Iraq and Syria

have been attributed to this reason due to the Sunni-Shia disputesand alienation of the citizens from the government of the day interms of social welfare. The Al-Shabab group also at its inceptionclaimed to such reasoning as their motivation to form their owngovernment.

Secondly, personal miseries and grievances at the national, regionaland international level also holds a bit of water for the motives ofterror groups and epitomise their intentions. The Boko Haram groupin Nigeria began as a fanatical religious movement but got violentand attacked the law-enforcement agents marginally in the country’sNorth-East region as the security agents tried nipping theirfanatical religious views in the bud but the crisis escalated as aresult of the murder of their erstwhile leader, Mohammed Yusuf inpolice captivity. The group also came up well pronounced with theirpersonal views especially with regards to education where theyproclaimed western education as a sin and wanted it scrapped outalongside a strict implementation of sharia (Islamic) law in theNorth of the country. Another clear example is that of the Talibanand Al Qaeda who are angry with foreign governments intervening intheir various government crisis in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistanand their government being installed by these foreign governmentsand being their stooges. The grand attack on the World Trade Centreand the Pentagon both situated in the US by Al Qaeda can also beshuffled under the factor of personal grievances of the group. InYemen, as a result of the Arab spring, the AQAP has been able toexploit the mood in the country and create a stronghold in partsthey presently occupy. The Israeli-Palestine crisis has seen anumber of co-ordinated attacks by Hamas and other terror groups andlone-ranger attacks by individuals who feel aggrieved by Israel’saggressive treatment towards Palestine and the support given toIsrael by its allies.

Another factor spurring the insurgents to carry out deadly attacksagainst innocent and soft targets is Revenge. Such attacks are beingcarried out by these fanatical groups because of retaliationpurposes against countries and institutions who have formallycondemned the motives and actions of terror groups and have evenraised the bar by attacking these terror groups. The continuousattack of both the military and police institutions and the attackon the UN Abuja building by Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Qaeda/EgyptianIslamic jihad/Somali Al Qaeda coordinated attacks on internationalembassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the Taliban attacks on Westerninterests in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the hostage taking of

citizens and subsequent murder by AQIM in the Maghreb, the attackson foreign peacekeepers by Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya coupledwith the Westgate Mall assault also highlights the importance ofthis factor all point as indicators favouring this point which is aserious intention pummelling the radicals.

With all these reasons highlighted above, the terrorist do indeedbelieve they have genuine reasons for their annihilation of lives ofhuman beings and resources but in all sincerity, are these sincerereasons as to why they sanction such despicable acts? While theymaybe aggrieved for different actions especially with politicalinstability in their countries and the subsequent foreigninterventions; national and regional which follows such crises,violence of any kind would not solve an inch the problems insteadescalate the entire problem. Dialogue as a technique ininternational politics should be fully utilised in settling disputesbecause violence marching in with an already perturbed society onlybrings about amplified calamity. Negotiations might be tardy andcomplicated but with co-operation from all sides of the divide,surely an agreement can be reached. For the countries who say theyproscribe negotiations, at very specific times, they went back ontheir words and engaged in talks. Such action describes how vitalnegotiations are in ensuring peace locally and globally.

For the extremist groups whose grouse for terrifying the globalpopulace is that they want to establish their own order andalternate the present practices of nation-states, violence is not averifiable tool at which they should use to achieve their aims.Information and persuasion should instead be the techniques suchgroups should employ in passing across their message. The Taliban’sdeliberate targeting of girls who are attaining western educationand polio health workers to Boko Haram’s targeting of westernmodelled schools, religious institutions and national andinternational governmental structures to Al-Shabaab’s murder ofpeople due to their difference of religious beliefs to ISIS murderof foreign journalists and health workers who don’t support theirviews and also of Muslims who do not recognise their strict Sunniinterpretation of Islam and their Islamic caliphate creation amongstcountless ferocious acts of violence contravenes the law of humannature, the sanctity of life as guaranteed by the 2 major worldreligions and also contravenes the UN Declaration of Human Rights.It is quite a shocker that the terrorists who want to their ridtheir territories of certain western influences still employ the useof western technologies when in attack mode of wanton destruction of

lives and properties. It is also pertinent to know that the leadersof these groups were trained and influenced by western education andare even professionals, scholars and religious theologians. It isbelieved that about 62 percent of Al Qaeda members have universityeducation.

STATISTICAL ACCOUNTStatistics collated from different sources shows a huge fatalityfigure in terror-related crisis which tends to increase annually.The 2014 Global Terrorism Index which was published by the Instituteof Economics and Peace (IEP) to review the terror attacks of theprevious year reported that the number of terror attacks worldwidein 2013 was at a staggering 9,707 which represented a 44 percentincrease from 2012 while 17,958 deaths were recorded. And to becandid, that is quite a huge number of people to lose in a year dueto propagandist agenda. According to the same research institute,five countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria)accounted for 80 percent of deaths related to terrorism in 2013 withIraq the worst hit. At a glance of a select few terror groups , theISIS according to a UN report released in August 2014 described thenotoriety of the group in just 8 months of 2014 as they killedapproximately 8,493 Iraq citizens, injured 15,782 while displacingover 1.8 million Iraqi citizens from their home. Boko Haramaccording to reports have murdered over 10,000 civilians andsecurity personnel from September 2010 till present while displacingover a million people from their homes. The Taliban according to theIEP report massacred in 2013 both in Pakistan and Afghanistan 2,340in 641 attacks. Al Qaeda has murdered tens of thousands of peoplesince it became active in 1988, the murder of over 3,000 people onSeptember 11, 2001 in the USA stands as its most lethal strike. Onethen begins to wonder amid these stats displayed above how thesegroups are able to effectively carry out such large scale attackswith gigantic success.

RECRUITMENT, ORGANISATION, Tactics AND FUNDINGOne of such ways has been their recruitment. The ideas of just a fewpeople who define the ideology of these groups has been nearperfectly executed by an energetic and despondent group of peoplewho perform the actual warfare battle and they are called the activecadre in the terrorism pyramid of organisation. These set of people

are usually enticed into joining such groups because of theirfrustrations with the society in which they live or their belief inthe desecration of their race, tribe or religion. They join thegroup voluntarily because of the promise to restore sanity to thesystem by the insurgents and are even offered a considerable amountof money in order to portray the terror groups as kind hearted insolving their problems and even doing more when these people usuallybetween the ages of 16-45 years join the group. Terror groups alsoconduct forced recruitment of members to join their network. This isdone through the use of threats and even to the extent of slayingtheir beloved ones. This system is used when they need a largenumber of people to complement their already stretched workforce andalso when they need core professionals and specialists who wouldhelp them with intelligence gathering, maintenance of weapon armouryand training of their amateur fighters. A worrying factor however isthe enrolment and utilisation of young boys and girls as childsoldiers and female bombers respectively in the various extremistgroups and as established recently, the pattern used by ISIS to feedyoung children with their propaganda through excessive dialogue,teaching and the most depressing, screening brutal clips for thechildren of elementary and post-elementary levels of schooling towatch with the view of changing the children’s perception of theworld, accepting the ideologies they have learnt and hardening theirminds with the ultimate aim of becoming fierce combatants for theterror groups when they become matured.

This active cadre of terrorists employ tactics such as bombing,suicide bombing, assassinations, guerrilla style raids, kidnappingand hostage taking, armed assault amidst other cruel methods to hurttheir intended targets; civilians and military combatants. This isachieved through the use of a loaded arsenal of small weapon andlarge arms. Some terror groups are even reported to possess heavymilitary equipment like Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG’s), anti-aircraft tanks, rocket launchers, truck armoured vehicles like theArmoured Personal Carrier (APC) amongst the rest. They also make useof equipment seized during their operations and conquer ofopposition state military forces. The active cadre are divided intowhat is known as cells. These cells consist of the different arms ofterrors group; the ground fighters, the intelligence unit, thearmoury unit, the communication and media unit. Members of aparticular cell hardly know or associate with members of othercells. This is done to protect the identity of the members ofterrorists’ organisation and to preserve ultimate secrecy amongst

its members. Most terror groups are highly decentralised andcommunication is maintained through the cell leaders who meetbriefly. For an operation, the various cell groups link up togetherin what is called a column so that they can harness together alltheir resources, intelligence and manpower needed for the success ofthe operation.

For all these strategies and plans to be effective for theterrorists, they must definitely have a support base. Thisfollowership of theirs is divided into two- the active supporters andthe passive supporters. The active supporters are very important toterrorist groups because they help in the provision of intelligence,weapons and supplies, communication gadgets, transportationequipment’s and safe-houses. They invest a lot into these radicalgroups, supporting them and their goals and the support could eitherbe an open or a tacitly approach. The supporters are both locals andforeigners with vested interest. The ISIS for example is said tohave about $2bn in cash and assets which makes them the wealthiestterrorist group presently. A large chunk of its finances came fromwealthy individuals in the Arab Gulf states. Through such funding,they are able to purchase small arms and large weapons,transportation and communication gadgets. Boko Haram was alleged tohave received the sum of $250,000 from AQIM in 2012. Al Qaedastarted with the funds personally donated by Osama Bin Laden butwhen the scope of the organisation expanded, foreign donors such assupporters from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia helped the organisationmassively. Fellow terror group Egypt Islamic Jihad contributed tothe fortunes of the group. Al Qaeda’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, thendeputy leader in 2005 requested that Al Qaeda in Iraq (now ISIS)transfer the sum of $100,000 to Al Qaeda central because of thestrains their purse encountered. While in power between the years1996-2001 as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Talibanreceived substantial financial support from the 3 countries thatrecognised their legitimacy of governance- Pakistan, Saudi Arabiaand the United Arab Emirates. It was also said to have receivedfunding and training from Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda from 1996-2001.Although out of government, the Taliban still receives support fromwealthy individuals in and out of Pakistan. Hezbollah, the self-acclaimed government administration disrupting large parts ofLebanon has over the years received about $60-$100m in financialassistance, political assistance and military weapons andspecialised training from the Iranian government. Lebanese Shias arealso said to make zakat contributions immediately after prayers.

These instances stated above highlights how massive insurgent groupsgather support from wealthy individuals, groups and fellow splintergroups.

A very important point to note here is that some of these activesupporters may after giving patronage to these terror groups due totheir overzealous support for these groups join the active cadre ofterrorists. This is especially with foreign donors and sympathisers.It has been reported that there has been a lot of foreign nationalsfighting for various terrorist groups over the years. At the earlyyears of its operation, Al Qaeda was said to have within its ranksforeign fighters from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Since the turn of the21st century, the group has been able to recruit foreign nationalsincluding western fighters who help both in the battle front and inareas where they need technical assistance. Somalia’s Al-Shabaab areknown to cross over the border in Kenya and successfully recruityoung Kenyans who apart from the monetary enticement also share theaspirations of the group. The group is also known to have westernfighters in its ranks like US jihadist, Omar Hammani who was killedin the “purge” by the now late Al-Shabaab leader, Ahmed Godane. TheSoufan group in its recent estimates puts foreign fighters for ISISat 12,000 including about 2,500 fighters of western origin whotravelled to Iraq and Syria in the last 3 years.

The passive supporters though lower in the pyramid ladder are alsoimportant to the survival of terror groups. These set of supportershelp in propagating the ideas of the terror groups, also providefunds and more importantly help in shielding terrorists within thecivil population especially when the insurgents come up againstsuperior firepower from military forces of states where they operateor allied forces.

It is pertinent to note that terrorist groups also have amultifarious yet well planned source of internal revenue. All themajor terror groups employ the same network system that rakes inheavy money for them. They exact various forms of taxation imposedon the people as a legitimate government would do, extortion andraiding of financial institutions and foreign health workers,kidnapping for ransom, trafficking of arms and ammunitions, drugs,sale of young children as slaves and the sale of oil from therefineries which they seized and presently control. For instance,AQIM has been alleged to have gotten earnings of about $20m in theyears 2011-2013 from ransom kidnapping. ISIS is believed to haveraised $45m alone around 2013-2014. It is a known fact that the

Taliban encourages the growth of opium poppy in Afghanistan despiteNATO-led efforts in seriously tackling the issue of drugs in thecountry yet the Taliban rake in about $150m yearly from the sale andexport of the drug. Groups like ISIS and AQIM are also known toencourage the growth of drugs and in turn export mainly to Latin andCentral America where the demand and use of such drugs is excessive.Charcoal business is a very lucrative business for Al-Shabaab asthey are estimated to rake in about $80m annually with their exportof the resource. Due to their spreading influence in Iraq andgradual movements in Syria, ISIS have been able to seize and controlsome oil refineries especially in Iraq and then, they are able toexploit a proportion of refined gasoline to neighbouring states andalso to the citizens of the countries where they operate. It isimportant to note that the internal source of revenue for terrorgroups is very important to their survival because of the decreasingwave of state sponsorship of their activities and secondly,individuals or groups who sponsor terror groups have seen theirnetwork lines with the terrorists cut short and therefore may notoptimally produce the full funding needed by the terrorists fortheir operation.

WHY TERRORISM STILL REIGNSDespite the evolving nature of the today’s world and with superiortechnology in place especially in terms of security coupled withsubstantial global effort in ensuring the problem of insurgency iscontained, why is there still a systemic rise of havoc and rancourcaused by the terrorists globally? Firstly, the issue oflocal/regional political, religious and cultural issues andpropaganda cannot be dismissed. Propaganda is a very vital tool ininternational relations/politics and the terrorists have made properuse of this tool with their exploitation of issues surrounding thecountries where they operate. The Taliban sprung up due to the localpolitics in Afghanistan to help diminish the government of MohammadNajibullah who was seen to have received the defunct Soviet Union’sbacking in one of the plots of the Cold War’s twilight. Despite theend of the war and the departure of Najibullah, the politicalprocess faced a huge storm despite the war ending in 1992 and thisled to another brewing crisis which was later known as theAfghanistan Civil War. The Taliban exploited the unrest in thecountry and emerged as a politico-religious movement upholding therights of the citizens who had been subjected under some cruelatrocities committed by the central government alongside the lack of

provision of social infrastructure and welfare, the instability ofthe unified government and crimes committed by other militia forcescontrolling other parts of Afghanistan. What started as a liberationmovement in 1994 with its first task being freeing two girls who hadbeen abducted by a regional governor in the country graduallymetamorphosed into a gigantic militia force who struggled forcontrol of the country and later overthrew Burhanuddin Rabbini’sinterim led government in 1996. Following its ascendancy to power,the Taliban led by Mullah Omar came up with the “excuse” that thecountry’s main religion, Islam had been desecrated and thereforeneeded cleansing up. The Taliban rejected the idea of democracypreferring instead to rule the country with Islamic (Sharia) law,came up with a very strict interpretation of Islam, stopped a lot ofcivil, academic and social activities and more painfully, neverupheld the dignity of women as they brutally abused women andsubjected lots of Afghans to terror with their cruel mode ofpunishments either by amputation, flogging or public executionwithout due consideration for human lives.

The rise of ISIS, formerly Al Qaeda in Iraq in could be credited tothe ever growing dispute between the Shias and Sunnis, the twodominant Muslim groups in Iraq. The Sunnis have always felt largelydominated and oppressed by the Shias who are the largest amongst thetwo groups in the country and have dictated political and religiousactivities in Iraq for a long time. However, the coming of SaddamHussein as Iraq’s President in 1979 added a different dimension tothe tribal-religious conflict. Saddam, a Sunni did little to quelltensions between these two groups instead fuelled the hate more. Hehatched a scheme to his fellow Sunnis telling them that they werethe larger group in the country and they have been deprived ofrecognition in years past. The Sunnis in taking Saddam’s messagewithout a careful validation of such message got angrier and thespite between both groups grew abundantly with sporadic events ofviolence recorded between members of both groups. During Saddam’stime, there were little Shias in government and even those ingovernment were not in influential positions. After Saddam’s ousterand the subsequent internal rancour that occurred, the Shiasreturned to power. This development threatened the existence andrelevance of the Sunnis as the various central governments led bythe Shias since the return of democracy have been guilty of thearbitrary use of power against the Sunnis and they therefore feel asense of injustice. Such a turbulent, lengthy crisis has seen theISIS, a group majorly made up of Sunni Muslims sympathetic to the

Sunnis peoples cause and carried arms to fight the cause and seekpolitical relevance at the initial stage of their formation. A clearpoint to support this assertion is the location of ISIS battlefields in mainly Sunni areas in Iraq. The ISIS have also capitalisedon the destabilising nature of the ongoing Syrian War to cementtheir presence and establish its own form of government in Syria.Presently, the propaganda espoused by ISIS is to create an “IslamicCaliphate” across Iraq, Syria and the entire world and enforce astrict Sunni style of worship and exterminate all forms of westerninfluence. The group has even gone far to declare that non-Muslimsand even Muslims who do not concur to their ideals of worship asheretics and it is implementing its style of governance andreligious style in places where they control with ultimatebrutality, decapitating human beings and forcing so many people whodo not identify with their own interpretation of Islam.

Another classical example of where local politics has laid thetemplate for terrorist activities and their explosive propaganda isthe Israeli-Palestinian-Hamas crisis. The alienation of Palestiniansin their homeland by the Israeli and Zionist agenda has been takeadvantage of by the Hamas group who have been spreading the hateissue against Israel and therefore resulted to armed conflict to seehow they hope to resolve the issue. Hamas have deliberately targetedIsrael citizens, security forces and buildings in either acoordinated or lone ranger approach, and such attacks are donemostly to provoke fury and rage from Israel and their hiding placewhen seeking refuge from revenge attacks from Israel has been inplaces where civilian casualties would occur mostly; school,villages, religious grounds and not in plain battlefield zones inorder to attract condemnation for Israel for killing Palestiniansmeanwhile Hamas themselves do not even care about Palestinians theysay they are fighting for instead they seek about how to advancetheir own interests. Hamas’ activities has done little good toalleviate the problems Palestine as faced as a people and as astate.

A constant religious-cultural reoccurrence of events that has seenterrorists lay upon as their propaganda scheme to create terror hasbeen the issue of the desecration of religion. Sadly, religion iswhich is meant to be the means uplift the spiritual life ofindividuals to the Supreme Being has been exploited as a path towreak havoc and pain upon the world. Of so many instances ofreligious fanaticism that can be listed, the worst has to be theattack on the French cartoon-satirist magazine, Charlie Hebdoo by

some disgruntled elements which left a dozen people dead. As KarlMarx would always say and would have repeated if he was alive“Religion is an opium for the masses.”

It is important to note that the more all these political, culturaland religious issues remains, the more the terrorists would continueto exploit the debacle and build their extensive propaganda whichwould in turn allow them to win the hearts of people who have beenpledged by different tribulations of all these problems and could inturn see both active and passive supporters of the terror group.

Secondly, the reason why insurgency has not been grinded to a haltis because of the sophisticated terrorist network. As I statedearlier, terrorist groups are a highly decentralised group dividedinto cells. This therefore makes it difficult for security forces toget hold of them because they are scattered throughout various areasand only rarely come together when they plan an attack and thendisperse again after the attack. Their diverse nature makes itdifficult to obtain verified information about their whereabouts,planned attacks, movements and other logistics of the group. Andalso due to very organised and secretive nature, the intelligenceunits of security forces find it extremely difficult to penetrateand break their ranks while the terrorists also undergo a “purging”process to exterminate any member who is found to be insubordinateand maybe considered a threat to the organisation. The terroristsare using to their advantage extremely positively modern technologyto continuously spread their agenda, communicate with themselvescovertly through means of communications which cannot be easilytraced or identified to link up and cause havoc. It is important tonote that this network link of terrorists are not limited to justone country, it spreads across borders and even across continentalborders. Terror groups make enjoy the advantages of poor bordersecurity and large stretches of uninhabited forests especially ofThird world countries to set their camps and journey from one areato another without little detection.

The ever flowing and large purse of the terrorists is the thirdfactor militating the problem of why insurgency has not beencontained globally. For such an occurrence of mammoth terror attacksto take place, it requires planning and more significantly, hugefunding. Terrorist groups in this regard have ensured that theycontinuously get the needed finances from various sources as toensure the continuity of the groups. Over the years, there had beenstates who funded terror groups, most did it covertly. However with

the changing global nomenclature and pressure on states from thesummit of the international political arena to disassociate fromhaving any sort of support for terror groups, terrorist groups havehad to devise other means to get financial support for their events.As explained earlier, the support which terror groups get from theactive supporters especially in terms of finances and logistics iskey to the continued relevance of such groups as these funds areutilised by terror groups to purchase small arms and hi-techweapons, communication and transportation gadgets, conductintelligence surveillance, provide the basic needs for the membersof the group and even funds to entice intending members. Logisticalservices rendered to terror groups especially in terms of transferof funds through discreet bank accounts locally and internationallyand movement of communication, military and transportation gadgetsthrough hidden channels across borders globally and some even withthe permission of states have greatly hampered the fight againstterrorism. Without curbing off their huge sources of income, terrorgroups would continue despite global efforts to rid them off, remainoperational and functional.

Fourthly, a dysfunctional, ill-equipped, and poorly trained militaryimpedes the struggle against terrorism. To defeat terrorists whoalso advance with the changing nature of modern technology andundergo massive military training, the military force of a state isexpected to be properly skilled, proficient and fortified with thenecessary and modern combat skills, equipment and technical know-howto defeat the crude insurgents. Unfortunately, this has not been thecase with Third World Countries where this menace continues toravage swiftly. Terror groups occasionally rout and outsmartsecurity forces despite the fact that the various states areexpected to have a larger and much more sophisticated armed forcesproperly equipped than tattered insurgent groups who do not have thelarge personnel and paraphernalia the military force would boast of.One has to look at the organisation of militaries across Asia andAfrica. It has been alleged democratic governments in the continentsmentioned deliberately cripple the military, deny them the basicfunds needed to embark on proper training and modern equipment so asto eliminate the emergence of a coup. The high corruption scaleamongst the top hierarchy of military officials in these regionshave also seen the military heavily debilitated as these topofficials hardly make proper utilisation of funds meant for thetraining and upkeep of the military personnel, purchase of modernweapons instead divert the funds to their individual pockets. This

has therefore led to rag-torn military personnel not adequatelycatered, poorly equipped with infinitesimal arms and obsoleteweapons and seriously lacking motivation to defeat the enemyterrorists despite their enormous potentials. Such problems haveseen desertions by members of the Iraqi, Afghan and Syrian forcesand mutiny by members of the Nigerian armed forces.

Another problem however why the military force of states antagonisedby terrorism have not been able to combat the scourge is because ofthe lack of discipline and infiltration. The lack of discipline bymembers of the armed forces has hampered the force to consolidate onthe little gains they might have gained. Flagrant human right abusesof the Nigerian military for instance have been well documented inthe north-east of the country where they presently fight the terrorsurge. The arbitrary behaviour of the Nigerian military which hasseen them being accused of extra-judicial killings and guerrillaraids of Nigerian citizens has not done any favours to reduce theimpending scourge instead inflammation of the crisis ensuesespecially from a humanitarian point of view for the sufferingpeople and to an extent a drastic reduction of support from theinternational community. Infiltration of the security forces alsoplays an important role in the continued surge of terrorism. This isbecause with members of terror groups who disguise as militarypersonnel or military officials who are sympathetic with the aimsand objectives of terror groups present in the military set-up, theygive away valuable information and operational details of the armedforces to the terrorists. This therefore leads to the terroristsbeing better prepared, navigating their operations in ways differentfrom their earlier plan and ultimately ambushing the military inbattle operations, taking the military by surprise in their tactics.The Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan made a heavy statementsome years ago saying that the insurgent group, Boko Haram hadinfiltrated his country’s armed forces. Such declaration by theNigerian C-in-C highlights the problem the military face in keepingits ranks tightly close from such penetration of its members and theconsequent act of subversion committed by such officers.

The major problem I reserved for the last in this article as to whyterrorism remains such a corrosive issue today globally is the lackof political will. Majority of the countries where terrorismcontinues to prevail has seen the leaders of such countries nothaving the needed strong political clout to deal with the problemdecisively and objectively. There seems to be an abysmal or lack ofsecurity plan and policy regarding today’s mode of terrorism in such

countries and therefore have not been able to tackle the issue head-on. The excuse like that always given by the Nigerian governmentthat terrorism is a “new type of security challenge and a globalphenomenon” cannot be held tenable again. Despite the hugeproportions given to security in the budgets of these countries(Nigeria for example had $5.8bn allocated to security alone in2014), these countries have failed to provide a comprehensiveblueprint of their plans to end the current scourge and this is dueto the failure of political leadership from all organs of thegovernment. Some leaders of this nations have hysterically not beenable to develop the charisma to understand this new scourge,comprehend its disastrous effect and personally lead plans to seekan overview of their security plans and policies by providing theircountry’s armed forces with the necessary support, empowering theintelligence agencies they have both home and abroad to continuallyseek information about groups that they view as threats to theircountries and make methodical investigations, improving bordersecurity at all fronts, working on the scope of immigrants in totheir countries and reducing or eliminating the importation of smallarms and weapons which falls into the hands of insurgents andviolent militia groups. Some of these leaders have instead blamedopposition politicians for their country’s woes in tacklinginsurgency and some have even gone further to enact draconian lawswhich limits human rights, the governments using terrorism as aconcealing vehicle to grant the governments more powers andfunctions different from that of the social contract which theysigned with the people at the inception of their administration. Andmore infuriatingly, these leaders hardly make changes to theirlargely ineffective security team, appointing allies instead whowould be loyal to the them as their security advisers at the risk ofputting their nations under threat from the terrorists by notemploying competent people with proven track record to lead the waragainst insurgency.

Again, some of the leaders of countries where terrorism prevail havebeen alleged to have sponsored state violence against particulargroups, this brews as an avenue for large scale terrorism while someleaders have been lackadaisical about their attitude towardscombating terrorism in their nations, some terror groups even havethe bold audacity to operate their base and training camps incertain countries without being hindered by the specific statemilitary.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONThe points mentioned above are just some of the all-encompassingproblems countries face in exterminating terrorism from theirterritories. Can these large swathe of problems be put in the bud? Abig YES is the answer. What are the steps involved in ending thismenace?

Firstly, the issues leading to the problems of terrorism locallymust be dealt with. Each climate has its own set of issues whichthrows up large scale problems which leads to a major crisis if notwell handled. Political, religious and cultural leaders must embracethe hard cloak they wear; they must have the needed leadershipskills necessary in order to solve such issues which could bepolitical, economic, socio-religious or cultural issues. They mustbe worthy mediators in stern times and must be able to drift theirnations away from the troubling times. The entrenchment of democracyis also fundamental in solving issues either at the global, regionalor global front. The process of democracy must be respected by alland sundry in its entirety and not choosing the parts of democracythat suits for a particular period and then practically tearing awaythe tenets of democracy when it’s unfavourable in certain instances.The acceptance of democracy especially the respect of human rightsand choices of people will help bring stability and peace not justto countries affected by this scourge but will enhance peaceglobally.

Secondly, there must be a comprehensive counter-terrorism policyfashioned out and enacted by countries ravaged with insurgency andindeed all countries and territories of the world. And by counter-terrorism strategies, I mean a comprehensive security plan bycountries to reflect the modern day carnage that we are witnessing,the training and re-training of the armed forces, police andsecurity agents, the creation of a special anti-terrorism squad unitwith personnel well trained for insurgency crisis and not the normalconventional war, properly equipped with all the needed modernequipment and facilities to fight the terrorists tooth and nail andalso carter adequate for the welfare of the forces in war whilegiving them the extra motivation to deal with the tremendousscourge. Only a well-motivated security force can dislodge a bizarreset of individuals. Also, high level intelligence gathering must beencouraged. Information as they say is power therefore scoutingthoroughly either locally or internationally for potential threats

would go a long way in combating this scourge as vital data andevidence can be gathered to prevent a potential attack.

States must also ensure they use the policy of deterrence which ishighly encouraged in international military relations. Deterrence isa security policy which sole aim is to attain a perpetual state ofprotection, to prevent any potential political aggressor fromharming the state and this is done mainly by the real display ordemonstration of nuclear capability. This offensive measure involvesusing the military to make members of terrorist groups aware of thehigh risk of retaliation (capture or death) they are facing unlessthey refrain from aggression. By raising the costs of using terrorand making clear that the government is ready to inflictunacceptable damage, it is hoped that some members may be deterredfrom continuing in such vicious acts and may even revoke theirmembership of such groups.

The financial links of the terrorists must be completed traced andexterminated. Since funding is very important to the survival of anyterror group, eliminating not only the foot soldiers but also theirpurse is an essential way in weakening the groups’ activities.Cutting off their line of funding locally and internationally aswell as apprehending these sponsors would go a long way in reducingprobably exterminating the scourge of globally. Another way oftackling the sponsors of these terror groups is to impose strictinternationally travel sanctions as well as the freezing of theirinternational bank accounts in which they use to wire funds to theterrorists. It would help in a long way.

Lastly, there is the need for an international coalition betweennation-states- politically, militarily and economically and legallyto flush out terrorists, Nations maybe very sceptical about aninternational coalition wanting to solve security issues in theirterritories would therefore render such states as ineffective todefend its territorial integrity. States might also feel bruised byanother country or countries military forces overstepping theirboundaries and not respecting the sovereignty of their nations, buttruth be told, once an attack has been committed and the victims ofsuch attacks are beyond a particular state, then we are in therealms of international terrorism. So states while building theirframework for a comprehensive counter-terrorism policy within theirlocal climates must also consider the security implications of awider attack and have a portion in their policies where they seekfor international help. The United Nations global counter-terrorism

strategy of September 2006 efficiently leads the way for thisapproach. The UN document states that countries should formulatetheir counter-terrorism strategies while also working with oneanother to help themselves as stipulated in the document and byinternational best practices. Countries are also urged not to inanyway facilitate help either locally, regionally or internationallyto terror groups and states are encouraged to participate in thefight against terrorism by voluntarily contributing both financiallyand in technical assistance to the UN’s fight against terrorism.Legal frameworks are expected to be created in order to facilitatethe extradition of terrorists to countries where they are wanted fortrials, political and economic aid would also be needed as it is notjust having about the best advice but also the economic power to winthe war and the battle. Fighting terrorism requires lots ofresources and coupled with economic power, countries are expected tocollaborate strategically in military and technological terms toensure not just worthy soldiers are in the battle but countries alsoaid the soldiers by exchanging valuable intelligence information andhelp in providing military equipment and personnel needed. But indoing all these, the sovereignty of nations must be respected whilehuman rights must be upheld.

It is sad seeing such allegations as this particular incidentpainted by the US Africa Command following the lukewarm attitudedisplayed by the Nigerian military explaining when the Pentagon didcome up with what it calls “actionable intelligence” from the droneflights, for example, information that might have indicated thelocation of some of the missing Chibok girls and turned it over tothe Nigerian commanders to pursue, they did nothing with theinformation. Such unworkable relationship between both countrieswould not help defeat the real enemy- Boko Haram.

It is genuinely anticipated that such steps recommended in thisarticle if conscientiously followed and implemented by the politicalleaders of countries and with the earnest co-operation of the mostterrified victims- the harmless innocent, non-combatant citizens ofcountries where such mayhem occurs on a daily business, a declineand finally, a written history of terrorism would be in thosecountries and probably, worldwide.

REFERENCESBBC News Website- https://bbc.co.uk/news. Various News articles onthis website.

The online Encyclopaedia- https://wikipedia.org

Zach Beauchamp (2014, Dec 16). 17 things about ISIS and Iraq youneed to know – https://vox.com

Muro, D. (2010). “Counter Terrorist Strategies in Western Europe: AComparative Analysis of Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.” EU WorkingPapers, Max Weber Programme MWP 2010/06

The United Nations- United Nations Action to Counter-Terrorism –https://un.org.en

Smith, S. (2014, Oct 9). “UN Report on ISIS: 24,000 Killed, Injured by Islamic State; Children Used as Soldiers, Women Sold as Sex Slaves .” – https://christianpost.com

The US Department of State Website- Statistical Information on Terrorism in 2013 – https://state.gov

The U.S. government’s official web portal (2006, Sep) - National Strategy for Combating Terrorism) - https://usa.gov

“Deaths caused by terrorism rises by 61 percent, report shows.” https://dw.de

Schmitt, E. (2014, Dec 21). “With Schoolgirls Taken by Boko Haram still missing, U.S.-Nigeria Ties Falter.” - https://nytimes.com

Sulaiman, A.O. and Ereke, E. (2007) “Understanding the Global War onTerrorism: An Appraisal of the 2003 U.S. Led Invasion of Iraq,” Abuja. International Affairs Quarterly, Vol. 1, Number 1. (January-March).

Lecture Notes- Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja, Abuja.