Boko Haram : innovations guerrières depuis les monts Mandara

Abstract

Maître de la brousse, assiégeant et terrifiant les villes, Boko Haram s’implante inexorablement et par-dessus les frontières nationales dans toute l’aire d’extension du royaume du Bornou. La prise des monts Mandara sur la frontière du Cameroun en 2014 offre à la « secte » un sanctuaire de repli. Les populations montagnardes voient dans Boko Haram le retour des razzias précoloniales et la reprise d’anciennes rivalités. L’embrigadement au service de Boko Haram passe par une islamisation à outrance. Toutes les communautés sont sommées de choisir pour ou contre ce nouvel ordre islamique plongeant nombre de régions dans un climat de guerre civile.

Islamic NGOs in Niger and Nigeria

“…While these legal values may have ceased to exist, the effects that they generated live on in a very different context, in particular through the fact that customs (including Islamized customs), although used as a legal accessory, are not actually part of the law. 20 In this context, it is not surprising that there has been no emergence of a legal radicalism similar to what has been seen in Katsina. What is particular to Niger is primarily the existence of a sociological divide on the issue of Sharia, which actually sheds light, by contrast, on certain aspects of Katsina's evolution.…”

“…An interlocutor in Maradi explained: 'Because we were not accepted in the big cities, we spent more time in the countryside where people welcomed us more easily.' 20 Through wa'azin kasa, promoters of the Salafi discourse invented itinerant preaching methods and practices that are at the core of the revolution that the regional Islamic sphere is now experiencing in general. By putting in place this strategy, they laid the groundwork for various dynamics whose consequences are yet to be grasped.…”

“…Northern Nigerian preachers have played and continue to play a major role in the dissemination and popularization of this discourse, not only on radio and television stations, but also through recorded sermons sold in markets and specialized shopsin the form of CDs, DVDs, or USB sticks 19and through public wa'azi, the large preaching gatherings, the most important of which is the wa'azin kasa, an event that usually lasts several days. 20 Many wa'azi organized in Niger's main cities are performed by the great figures of Nigerian preaching, whose filmed sermons, widely consumed in Niger, have ensured their fame. Over the past ten years, one has seen the rise of Nigérien preachers, such as Sheikh Falalu Tassiou, who have also become very popular and ensure continuity in the dissemination of the Izala message, but the stars of the genre remain the Nigerian sheikhs.…”

“…19 The result of this development attracted other famous scholars and produced a scholarly community and a tradition of learning, as well as a new socio-political culturewhich helped to create a formidable Islamic state with well-defined institutions. 20 As a result, a tradition of Islamic scholarship and reform continued in Hausaland and the rest of Bilad al-Sudan in the 16 th century, with continued movement and settlement of scholars of reputesuch as Shaykh Umar b. Aqit, the grandfather of Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti. 21 Also present in the region at different times were Al-Shaykh al-Tadhikhti; Makhluf b. Salih al-Bilbali, who was in Katsina in 1509 and was persuaded to serve as Qadi; and Makhluf b. Salih al-Bilbali, a distinguished scholar from Timbuktu, who was also saddled with the responsibility of serving as Qadi.…”

Modern Houses, Conspicuous Consumption, and Elite–Villager Interfaces in the Mandara Highlands

“…This approach has relevance for the literature first because the existing literature in the Mandara Mountains (Chétima, 2017, 2018b; Gavua, 1990; Lebeuf, 1961; Lyons, 1992; MacEachern and David, 2013; van Beek, 1986; Vincent, 1991; Seignobos, 1982) and generally in Africa (Blier, 1987; Lane, 2006; Lyons, 2007; Mercer, 2014; Nelson, 2007, Apotsos, 2016) has mainly focused on traditional architecture. Although this zone surfaced in the news as a hinterland of Boko Haram in neighboring Nigeria, the recent cultural and in particular architectural transformations have not received much attention (MacEachern, 2018; Seignobos, 2014). Second, my argument marks a departure from the notion of the house as a mediator of social relations defended by Lévi-Strauss (1987).…”