by Charmaine Cheng
The Disarmament and International Security Committee commences debate into the issue of state sponsored terrorism in Nigeria.
Since 2009, Nigeria has been in a constant state of turmoil since the Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram took up arms against the Nigerian government. The Boko Haram terrorist groups’ influence spans the area from Senegal to Eritrea, killing over 35000 people since their insurgency in 2009 aimed at overthrowing Nigeria's secular government and establishing an Islamic state.
The delegation of Nigeria has stated that their country is in essence ‘too poor to defend against these terrorist groups’. They have asked for any form of support, no matter humanitarian or financial. However, the conflict that seems to be emerging is whether the countries should involve in direct military intervention or simply offer financial aid to Nigeria. There is also conflict over whether the countries should carry out peace talks and negotiations with the Boko Haram groups or prioritise education reforms.
As the council moved into GSL procedure, so commenced the overwhelming waves of POIs, which slowly evolved into a literal contest of speed and a 2v2 battle of rock paper scissors.
With their most patriotic attire and aggressive flag waving, the delegation of Russia firmly advocated their hardline stance and proposed starting a joint military task force to completely destroy the influence of Boko Haram. They believe that direct foreign military intervention is the only way to ‘kill off these terrorists’. They also stated that direct financial aid has been proven ineffective over the decades of trying to fight off these terrorist groups, which inevitably led to POIs from literally every single delegation in the room.
On a more peaceful matter, the delegation of France believed that military action alone is insufficient to solve the problem and believed that education is more important in order to stop the spread of Boko Haram’s influence and prevent them from recruiting more members.
The delegation of Chad however believes that both strategies should be held at the same time.
The delegation of Afghanistan, after their recent Taliban conflict, became the centre of conflict when they stated their stance against violence. They were questioned about why they would go against Boko Haram when Afghanistan funded over 10 terrorist groups over the years. Most interestingly, they also strongly advocated for the Belt and Road initiative by stating that it was ‘the best way to solve every problem’.
Currently, the council is still going through GSL and is in the process of aggressive debate.
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