Sub-Saharan Africa

Dr. Stephen Schneck, Chairperson of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Vice Chair Eric Ueland, Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi, and distinguished fellow panelists, I am grateful for the invitation to testify before this virtual hearing, whose timing, as it were, could not have been more auspicious. As we speak, the news cycle in Nigeria is being dominated by the activities of a new Islamic State (IS)- linked group called Lakurawa, comprising insurgents from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad, and currently active across the Northwest region of the country. On November 9, gunmen with connections to the group attacked a village in the northwestern state of Kebbi, killing fifteen people. While more will be known in the coming months about the group and its relation to other Islamist groups, particularly Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which have been joined in battle with the Nigerian authorities for almost two decades, their collective threat to religious freedom in Nigeria is all too well known. We see this in various ways. In the first place, by launching coordinated attacks on places of worship, Islamist insurgents deny others the freedom and space to practice their faiths. A report by the Nigeria-based International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) estimates that 18,000 churches have been set ablaze by Boko Haram in Nigeria since 2009. During the same period, more than 50,000 Christians and 34,000 moderate Muslims are estimated to have been killed. The fact is incontrovertible: extremist Islam is a threat to the religious freedom of Christians and Muslims alike. Furthermore, by attacking state institutions like police stations and administrative buildings, Islamist insurgency groups weaken the state materially as well as symbolically. By weakening state capacity, they erode citizens’ trust in the ability of the state to protect them, which ultimately affects their, i.e., citizens’ freedom to practice their religion. In an atmosphere of chronic insecurity, religious freedom becomes a luxury as people become wary of going out to places of worship. The essential connection between freedom of movement and freedom of religion is such that rarely can you have the latter without the former. If only for this reason, policy intervention must begin by focusing on the restoration of public safety in the country. To this end, continued U.S. security cooperation with Nigeria is absolutely essential. The United States must continue to back the Nigerian armed forces with material support and technical and counterinsurgency training. A key aspect of security is border security. In northern Nigeria, the notoriously porous borders with Niger and Chad are an open invitation to unrestrained terrorist operations and weapons trafficking. Accordingly, tightening border security by investing in or upgrading border infrastructure as the case may be is a matter of urgent priority. A competent and well-governed state is the greatest antidote to religious terrorism and, ipso facto, the surest guarantor freedom of religion. While Boko Haram and similar insurgent groups are no doubt motivated by visions of a theocratic paradise on earth, the extent to which they draw on legitimate political disaffection with the state, particularly in their appeal to rank and file, has become quite clear. Policy interventions to strengthen good governance by enhancing transparency and political accountability in Nigeria are needed as a means to undermine this appeal. The more truly democratic Nigeria is, the greater the latitude for individual religious expression and freedom, including, crucially, freedom not to practice any religion. Lastly, the U.S. should continue to bolster efforts aimed at strengthening interfaith conversations and collaborations by supporting international and local organizations dedicated to this end.