BOKO HARAM, a jihadist group that has taken over tracts of territory in north-eastern Nigeria, has made a bloody start to 2015. An attack on the town of Baga earlier this month may have claimed as many as 2,000 victims (the army, which often underestimates casualties, belatedly claimed the real figure was 150). This weekend the group kidnapped around 80 people during a raid into neighbouring Cameroon; 20 people have since reportedly been freed. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa language, began its insurgency in 2009. It has since claimed over 15,000 lives, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), an initiative run by the University of Sussex to collect data on political violence in developing states. The Nigerian authorities have so far failed to curb Boko Haram’s activities, but the group’s incursions into neighbouring territories may prompt a more muscular response. Ghana’s president, John Mahama, this month raised the possibility of a multinational force to bring the militants to heel.