Boko Haram: Exacerbating and Benefiting from Food and Water Insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin

Sep 22, 2017 | Mervyn Piesse
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The Lake Chad basin suffers from multiple security stressors, including widespread unemployment, poverty and conflict. Rising food and water insecurity exacerbates the tensions that arise from these stressors.

Food and water insecurity contributes to a general belief that the state is incapable of bettering the lives of disadvantaged people. Groups that are opposed to the state are able to use this belief to their advantage.

Increased migration of West Africans towards Southern Africa could contribute to greater social tension and conflict, particularly in South Africa as hostility toward migrants becomes increasingly common.