Join renowned experts in understanding Boko Haram beyond the day-to-day headlines. Under what circumstances came Boko Haram to be and what has ushered the organisation to the center of attention in international coverage of terror organisations? Not least, from today onwards – what can we expect from Boko Haram in the future?

Boko Haram – or Jam’aat Ahl as-Sunnah lidDa’wah wa’l-Jihad, as the group calls itself – is only the latest in a series of radical Islamist groups to emerge in the north and northeast of Nigeria. In April 2014, however, the group rose to international notoriety when it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria. In Hate Speech International’s report Boko Haram - the islamist insurgency in Nigeria, Maren Sæbø outlines the history and evolution of Boko Haram, explores its organization and aspirations and concludes by looking at what may possibly happen in the future.

In this event, which is co-hosted by Hate Speech International and the Norwegian Council for Africa, Maren Sæbø will present main findings from her report. This will be followed by a panel discussion which will touch upon issues such as religion and identity in Nigeria, the organization’s rationale and its place in a regional context.

In the panel:

- Victor Adetula is Head of Research at Nordiska Afrikainstitutet - The Nordic Africa Institute and Professor of International Relations & Development Studies at the University of Uppsala. His fields of interest encompass Conflict and post-conflict, Democracy and governance, peace and conflict, Africa’s international relations, political economy of Africa, Europe–Africa relations, and international development assistance.

- Morten Bøås (PhD) is Research Professor at Nupi (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs). He predominantly works on issues concerning peace and conflict in Africa, including issues such as land rights and citizenship conflicts, youths, ex-combatants and the new landscape of insurgencies and geopolitics. Bøås has authored, co-authored and co-edited several books and published a number of articles for academic journals. He has conducted in-depth fieldwork in a number of African countries and travelled widely elsewhere on the continent.

- Maren Sæbø is an independent journalist and historian, with focus on African Affairs. She has written extensively on African conflicts, and written a thesis on the Angolan Civil war. She is editor and runs Bundu.no, a website for independent journalism on Africa.

The panel will be chaired by Gina Lende, postdoctoral researcher, working on religion and politics in Nigeria.