WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Claims that Nigerian militant group Boko Haram poses a grave danger to the region may be overstated, a foreign policy analyst contends.
Terrorist attacks attributed to Boko Haram have escalated in Nigeria since the group took responsibility for an attack last year on U.N. offices in Abuja. The group has issued threats to the Christian population in Nigeria since a deadly attack on the religious community Christmas Day.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, in a statement last week, said Boko Haram and groups like it could be found guilty of crimes against humanity.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, writes in The Christian Science Monitor that Boko Haram is one of many local terrorist groups seeking to destabilize Nigeria.
"The operative word here is local, not regional, despite such worries in parts of Africa and the West," she writes.
Felbab-Brown notes there are "deep" tribal rivalries that could prevent groups like Boko Haram from "forging (a) pan-African jihad."
The International Crisis Group in its review of the August attack on the U.N. offices in Abuja notes the Nigerian group may be focusing more on internal events.
"The United States must encourage the Nigerian government to address the political, economic and religious insecurities that give resonance to Boko Haram's ideology," the Felbab-Brown advised.
