Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee

 

Adds Boko Haram to Its Sanctions List

 

On 22 May 2014, the Security Council’s Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee approved the addition of Boko Haram to its list of individuals and entities subject to the targeted financial sanctions and the arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2083 (2012), adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Committee stresses the need for robust implementation of the Al-Qaida sanctions regime as a significant tool in combating terrorist activity, and urges all Member States to participate actively by nominating for listing additional individuals, groups, undertakings and entities which should be subject to the sanctions measures.

As a result of the new listing, any individual or entity that provides financial or material support to Boko Haram, including the provision of arms or recruits, is eligible to be added to the Al-Qaida Sanctions List and subject to the sanctions measures.

The details of the new listing for Boko Haram are listed below:

B. Entities associated with Al-Qaida

QE.B.138.14. Name: JAMA'ATU AHLIS SUNNA LIDDA'AWATI WAL-JIHAD
A.k.a.: a) Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad b) Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad c) والجهاد للدعوة السنة أهل جماعة d) Boko Haram e) Western Education is a Sin F.k.a.: na  Address: Nigeria  Listed on:  22 May 2014 Other information: Affiliate of Al-Qaida (QE.A.4.01), and the Organization of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) (QE.T.14.01). Associated with and Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan (Ansaru). The leader is Abubakar Shekau.

For further details relating to the listing, please refer to the narrative summary of reasons for listing Boko Haram annexed to this release.  In accordance with paragraph 17 of resolution 2083 (2012), the narrative summary of reasons for listing Boko Haram is also available on the Al-Qaida Committee’s website at http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE13814E.shtml.

The Al-Qaida Sanctions List is updated regularly on the basis of relevant information provided by Member States and international and regional organizations.  This is the eleventh update of the List in 2014.

An updated Al Qaida sanctions list is available from the Committee’s website at http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/aq_sanctions_list.shtml.

ANNEX

Narrative Summary

QE.B.138.14. Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad (Boko Haram)

Date on which the narrative summary became available on the Committee’s website:  22 May 2014

Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad (Boko Haram) was listed on 22 May 2014 pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 3 of resolution 2083 (2012) as being associated with Al-Qaida for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” Al-Qaida (QE.A.4.01) and the Organization of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) (QE.T.14.01).

Additional information:

Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad (Boko Haram) which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad” was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, Nigeria, by the Nigerian Mohammed Yusuf (deceased) with the goal of supporting Islamic education and establishing an Islamic state in Nigeria. In 2009 the group carried out a series of attacks on police stations and other government buildings in Maiduguri, which resulted in Nigerian government raids on the group's headquarters and Yusuf's death in those raids. Since then, Boko Haram has been led by Abubakar Shekau and has embarked on a violent insurgency utilizing terrorist tactics.  The group is based in north-eastern Nigeria but has also operated in Cameroon and is responsible for attacks and kidnappings in those two countries. Boko Haram has also been active in Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram has maintained a relationship with the Organization of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) (QE.T.14.01) for training and material support purposes. For example, Boko Haram gained valuable knowledge on the construction of improvised explosive devices from AQIM. A number of Boko Haram members fought alongside Al-Qaida affiliated groups in Mali in 2012 and 2013 before returning to Nigeria with terrorist expertise.

Boko Haram is responsible for a series of major terrorist attacks, including a wave of bombings in Kano, Nigeria in January 2012 that killed more than 180 people in a single day. Another major attack was the August 26, 2011 bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 21 people and wounded scores more. The group was also responsible for the December 25, 2011 attack on the Saint Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, that killed at least 37 and wounded approximately 50.

Since summer 2012 Boko Haram has undertaken a campaign of violence against Nigerian schools and students. In June 2013, the group attacked schools in Maiduguri and Damaturu, Nigeria, killing at least 22 children; in July, an attack on a school in the village of Mamudo, Nigeria killed at least 42 people, most of them students. On September 29, 2013 Boko Haram attacked an agricultural school in Yobe, Nigeria, shooting dead 50 students in their dormitory as they slept.

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram abducted approximately 300 girls from a school in northern Nigeria. Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the attack in a video released by Boko Haram and threatened to sell the girls into slavery. Boko Haram militants subsequently attacked a staging base for rescuers on May 5, 2014, killing an additional 310 people.

In a statement released in November 2012, Abubakar Shekau expressed Boko Haram’s solidarity with Al-Qaida affiliates in Afghanistan, Iraq, North Africa, Somalia and Yemen. He also encouraged fighters across Africa and other areas to continue engaging in terrorist attacks. Shekau’s media statements have been published on known jihadist forums.

Related listed individuals and entities:

Al-Qaida (QE.A.4.01), listed on 6 October 2001

The Organization of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (QE.T.14.01), listed on 6 October 2001

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For information media • not an official record