Nigeria needs targeted approach to tackle Islamist sect

The U.S. ambassador to Nigeria has urged it to address "appalling" social problems in its restive north and ease off on heavy-handed security crackdowns if Africa's most populous nation is to overcome a growing Islamist militant threat. Boko Haram, an Islamist sect whose name translates from the northern Hausa language as "Western education is forbidden", has been behind dozens of deadly bombings and assassinations in remote areas of northern Nigeria this year. The sect's home is at the base of the arid Sahel in the northeast, one of the West African nation's poorest regions and bordering Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Add your comment
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