Boko Haram admits abducting Nigeria girls from Chibok

[nyabingi]

15. They are doing this for a reason, no?

Reporting on crises in Africa, particularly in the west, are often lacking in context and background at all - an unfortunate leftover of paternalistic simplification of African problems which leaves people to think any violence or atrocity that happens there is simply the result of savage, subhuman barbarians who are innately violent.

This is the same thing that happened with coverage of the violence in Rwanda. Lack of context and background led many westerners to believe one ethnic groups just up and decided to go out and start hacking a rival ethnic group to death for no reason, when all violence happens for a reason (even if that reason may be mental issues of the aggressor).

The Nigerian government has killed thousands of Muslims in the north in their bid to get rid of Boko Haram, only inflaming the potential for violence in the future. One side is proposing the sell of children while the other side simply sends in the military to kill them - I guess maybe a case can be made that one if preferable to the other?