First you divide by sentiment and fear. You kill the other but most importantly eliminate opposition with your own ethnic or religious community, especially those who are open to multi-religious/multicultural life. If you do your job right, the fear and sense of protecting oneself will also have the “others” retaliating and building walls that ultimately will become new borders. Boko Haram, what the media has labeled as an “Islamist” group has been on a new wave of bombings, shootings and murders. However, their strategy is not that much different than Serbia forces did in Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) less than two decades earlier in the name of European Christianity. Even though most (not all) of the leadership of ultra-nationalist Serbian ethnic cleansing campaign has/is facing prosecution before an international tribunal, the fruits of their work remain surprisingly in tact within BiH and the consequences and contagion are evident in revitalized xenophobia and ultra-nationalism through Europe and beyond. Organizations as Boko Haram can only be fueled by some radical agenda because they need to fist provide simple answers for frustratingly complex considerations. The crimes that they commit in the name of one group against another are intended to make all complicit. If that is not enough, retaliation and ultimately inter-communal warfare will compel all. If perhaps for no other reason than fear and survival, all are ultimately forced to choose. Nigeria’s government made a grievous legal and moral mistake by the summary execution of Boko Haram’s leader Malam Mohammed Yusuf and apparently hundreds of followers in 2009. Undermining the rule of law also undermines confidence in society as well as government officials. In some of the globe’s most free and democratic societies, including in the US and Europe, there is an inclination to detour the rule of law. However, it only in the end fuels suspicion regarding commitment to equality before the law and shared social values while feeding sectarianism as a simple solution – only believe and side with those who were the same jersey as you. Boko Haram is not just a security challenge. It will continue to kill not for killings sake as much as to prompt a counter-reaction by government (as in 2009) or by the “other side.” Once it starts, it is automatic pilot to intercommunal war, division, partition and end of Nigeria, as we know it. In the meantime, Boko Haram hopes to transform from terrorists to fathers and most definitively rulers of a new country. By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey Facebook – Become a Fan at “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter – Follow us at DiplomaticallyX War Crimes Justice” Channel - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/c/war-crimes-justice