Boko Haram declares allegiance to ISIL

Islamic State fighters have consolidated their hold on large swathes of Iraq and Syria, but analysts fear they may now have expanded their influence deep into Africa [AP]

The Nigerian Islamist militant group has reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) bringing it more in line with a global terrorist network that includes Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan, among others.

An audio message, believed to be carrying the voice of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, was posted on the militant group’s Twitter account over the weekend.

Boko Haram, which controls large swathes of northeastern Nigeria, has come under repeated attacks from the Nigerian, Chadian and Cameroonian armies in recent weeks.

Although African nations have launched a combined military effort, sanctioned by the African Union and supported in part by Washington, to destroy the militant group, Boko Haram still retains significant offensive capabilities to strike at towns in the northeastern state of Borno.

On Saturday, five explosions – at least two of which were carried out by female suicide bombers – killed at least 50 people and injured dozens in Maiduguri capital of Borno.

Boko Haram pre-dates ISIL, having debuted on the Nigerian stage in 2002. It has been calling for an end to secular-based law, to be replaced with Islamic Sharia law and has been fighting government forces and raiding villages ever since, particularly in the country’s north east.

The uptick in Boko Haram attacks in the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, increased in late 2012 after a Nigerian military operation to uproot the hard-line Islamist group and a declaration of a state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan failed to destroy the militants.

ISIL, however, is believed to have formed in 2011 with its origins found during the early stages of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. A Jordanian inmate named Abu Musab Al Zarqawi formed Al-Qaeda in Iraq and carried out deadly attacks against Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq. He was killed in a US air strike in 2006.

His followers were pushed out of Iraq’s western Anbar province in 2007.

But Al-Qaeda – which had by 2010 rebranded itself the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) – could launch strategic raids back into Anbar as part of an overall strategy to regain control of the province.

The civil war in Syria could not have come at a better time; thanks to Gulf and US mismanagement of the conflict there, the war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad provided the best opportunity for ISI’s growth and expansion. So much so that one year into the Syrian civil war, ISI added Levant (or Sham, in Arabic) to their moniker indicating that they intended to reach well into Lebanon.

Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance is significant because it now means that ISIL commands a flow of cash, material, manpower and ideological support from deep within Africa to central Asia.

The BRICS POST with inputs from Agencies