[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 91 (Thursday, June 12, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H5350-H5351]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ONGOING STRUGGLE AGAINST BOKO HARAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, last week, I spent four days in 
Nigeria, and while in Abuja, I met with one of the Chibok girls who 
escaped after the infamous mid-April Chibok school abduction.
  This brave young woman has suffered much, was clearly traumatized, 
and in deep emotional pain. You could hear it in her voice. You could 
see it in her eyes, as she sat motionless, recounting her tragic story, 
yet she spoke of concern not for herself, but for her friends and 
classmates who remain in captivity. She pleaded for their rescue and 
for their protection.
  In Nigeria last week, I met with a Muslim father of two girls 
abducted from the Chibok school. Fighting back tears, he said the agony 
was unbearable. The story of his daughters underscored the fact that 
Boko Haram brutalizes Muslims as well.
  Last week, I also met with several other Boko Haram victims, 
including a Christian mother whose two daughters were abducted in 
February of 2012.
  For the past 2 years, this mom has had no idea where her two girls 
are or whether or not those two daughters are dead or alive. She told 
me that her husband was shot on the spot when they raided her home, 
simply for being a Christian.
  Three months later, Boko Haram returned and asked if her son had 
converted to Islam. When she said no, he was shot and killed.
  Mr. Speaker, on another trip to Nigeria, last September, I traveled 
to the city of Jos and visited churches that were firebombed by Boko 
Haram and met with survivors, those who lost loved ones and those who 
have been wounded in those terrorist attacks.
  In an internally displaced camp, I met with a man named Habila Adamu. 
Habila Adamu lived in the north, had fled to Jos, but here was a 
situation where Boko Haram broke into his home, put an AK-47 to his 
face and said: If you convert to Islam, I will spare your life. If you 
don't, I will shoot you.
  He told the terrorists: I am ready to meet my Lord.
  He was shot immediately, with his wife pleading with the terrorists 
not to do so. It blew away much of his face. When I met with him, I was 
so moved by his story, I invited him to a hearing.
  When he testified, he told that story to members of the Subcommittee 
on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International 
Organizations, and you could have heard a pin drop--what courage, what 
tenacity, what love. I was struck by the fact that he had absolutely no 
malice for the man who pulled the trigger, who almost turned him into a 
martyr.
  In Jos, I also met with Archbishop Kaigama and Muslim leaders in that 
city who told me how Christian and Muslims were working together to 
assist the victims and to try to mitigate the threat, but, Mr. Speaker, 
the violence has gotten demonstrably worse and shows absolutely no 
signs of abating.
  After the May 20 Boko Haram bombings in Jos that killed 118 innocent 
people--that is less than a month ago--and wounded at least 56, 
Catholic Archbishop Kaigama, an extraordinarily brave and compassionate 
religious leader, reminded the world that Boko Haram is faithful to its 
target of eliminating and destroying Christianity from parts of the 
country.
  They only difference is that we are not just seeing Christians dying 
and being abducted, we are seeing attacks on Muslims, as well, who Boko 
Haram considers not Muslim enough.
  The Archbishop said:

       The international community can help in a number of 
     important ways. The sale of arms is of grave concern. In 
     short, the government needs help in cutting the supply lines 
     of Boko Haram.

  Mr. Speaker, Emmanuel Ogebe, special counsel for the Justice for Jos 
Project and also a leader in the Jubilee Campaign testified yesterday:

       Boko Haram continues to ravage northern Nigeria, killing 
     over 1,000 people in 8 weeks. The terrorists are bolder and 
     more diabolical than ever and have completely overrun several 
     borderline rural communities. Prior to the Chibok schoolgirl 
     abductions, much of the international response was 
     inattention and inaction. Now, it is attention, but 
     inadequate action.

  Mr. Ogebe also testified that it took the United States 25 months 
after the first two Americans were attacked and 1 year after the third 
and fourth Americans were targeted before Boko Haram was designated as 
a foreign terrorist organization by the Obama administration.
  I would note, for the record, that during the last 2 years, I have 
pushed hard--and I am not the only one in this Congress who has done 
so--to designate Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization, or 
FTO. I introduced legislation, H.R. 3209, the Boko Haram Terrorist 
Designation Act of 2013, in an attempt to make it so.
  On December 13 of last year, I chaired yet another congressional 
hearing on Boko Haram and was prepared to advance the legislation. 
However, on the day before the hearing, the Obama administration 
finally announced FTO designation--late, but welcomed--which is 
designed, in part, to slow or help interdict the flow of arms and 
terror financing.
  Mr. Speaker, at yesterday's hearing, we also heard from the former 
American Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Renee Sanders, an experienced and 
very distinguished diplomat, who told my committee:

       Nigeria is at the beginning of a long war, and they have to 
     realize this. This is no longer a localized conflict or 
     insurgency. There is no easy fix, and every attack and 
     response to Boko Haram cannot be viewed as a death knell blow 
     to it. A long-range security framework to the terrorist 
     threat is what is needed.


[[Page H5351]]


  Ambassador Sanders said:

       The security services need to regroup, reapproach, and 
     readdress it as such, in order to begin to get off their 
     heels on the defensive and get on an aggressive offense. This 
     has not happened yet, and Boko Haram has not only succeeded 
     in terrorizing 60,000 square miles of territory, but it is 
     also evident that, with the late April 2014 attacks, that 
     they have the ability to reach locations just 15 kilometers 
     outside of Abuja, either with sleeper cells or with bombs 
     getting past checkpoints.
       Current Nigerian security services have never experienced 
     anything like this, like what it is facing with Boko Haram. 
     Boko Haram is executing asymmetrical warfare, and for the 
     most part, this is outside of the framework of the security 
     forces and their capability to effectively respond.

  Among Ambassador Sanders' recommendations were additional material, 
especially mobile communications equipment, vehicles, technologically-
based bomb detection equipment; improved control over their very porous 
borders; improved military planning, logistics, equipment and supplies, 
including sufficient spare parts and fuel; expanded small Special 
Forces units and a 24-7 counterterrorism center; establishing a 
satellite CT center closer to the northeast region, so information 
doesn't take so long to react to or to be analyzed; and more rapid 
response forces, or what we call mobile units, and probably more 
outposts.
  Another expert at yesterday's hearing, Dr. Peter Pham, director, 
Africa Center, Atlantic Council, testified:

       A comprehensive strategy is required to respond to the 
     burgeoning threat posed by Boko Haram, including the 
     promotion of specialized training for Nigerian security 
     forces. Undoubtedly, the Nigerian security forces, both 
     military and police, need that assistance in the fight. 
     However, the need is less a matter of personnel and equipment 
     than training, especially in intelligence and investigations.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. Speaker, while some training has begun--and U.S. military 
personnel deserve high praise and thanks for their professionalism, 
skill, and commitment--much more needs to be done. Human rights vetting 
must be improved so that eligible soldiers are not wrongfully excluded 
and intelligence cooperation needs to be expanded.
  Let me also express my gratitude to our Embassy personnel for also 
working overtime in trying to mitigate this threat and to do the work 
that the Embassy does so selflessly. They are doing a wonderful job, 
and I appreciate their work in hosting and helping with my trip there.
  Finally, just let me say, nothing has galvanized global opinion and a 
sense of extreme urgency more than the abduction of the Chibok 
schoolgirls, and now other girls since. Some 20 more girls were just 
abducted by Boko Haram.
  Despite escalating threats of terrorism, however, many Nigerians, 
including and especially the faith community--Catholics, Evangelicals, 
Muslims--have responded with extraordinary courage, resiliency, 
resolve, and empathy for the victims, and they hope and they are 
working to ensure that Boko Haram--the whole country--is stopped.
  Counterinsurgency training and intelligence capacity are among the 
highest priorities, and my hope is that more, not less, will be done 
going forward in order to mitigate this threat and to end the reign of 
terror that is being promoted by Boko Haram.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________