Islamic State gang’s cold-blooded decapitation of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya recently was the blood-thirsty terror group’s unique way of announcing its presence in Africa as it seeks to expand the frontiers of its influence beyond the Middle East. It is needless to say that this development has already sent a wave of panic through Europe, especially Italy, because of the country’s proximity to Libya. Concern has also been raised beyond the neighbouring country of Egypt to places as far afield as the United States and Canada.
In the IS-styled gruesome execution, Nigeria’s hate-peddling Boko Haram has also beheaded two people for an alleged “espionage” offence. The grisly video of this act should draw the attention of the civilised world to the capacity of the deadly sect for evil.
With the arrival of IS in Africa, the growing fear of its possible link-up with Boko Haram is becoming real. Such a link-up, in a recent report by the American cable network, CNN, was described as a “Marriage from Hell”. “For sheer cruelty, they are well matched. They also share an apocalyptic ‘end-of-days’ vision. Now there are signs that Boko Haram – the most feared group in West Africa – may be edging towards a formal pledge of allegiance to the self-declared Caliph of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi,” the CNN report highlighted.
If Boko Haram, as currently constituted, could pose such a formidable challenge to Nigeria’s security forces, it can only be imagined what could come out of a fusion with IS, a body that overran large swathes of land in both Iraq and Syria in just a couple of days. This is even more likely since the so-called jihadists have a habit of moving from country to country to offer their services wherever they find fertile ground.
Evidence of collaboration between the two deadly groups has already been identified, among which was a statement in a February 9 video by Boko Haram, addressed to the “mujahideen of the Islamic State.” Also, Nicholas Rasmussen, the Director, the US National Counterterrorism Centre, was quoted as telling a congressional hearing that there was an “increased communication between Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in north-western part of Africa and even with ISIL (another acronym for IS).” The Libyan Foreign Minister, Mohammed al-Dairi, was similarly quoted as saying in an interview with Hayat, a newspaper, that groups associated with Boko Haram had been detained in Libya.
He also affirmed the existence of a “dreadful terrorist network between IS in Syria and Iraq, in Libya and Mali and Boko Haram.” So, IS, taking advantage of the chaotic situation in Libya, occasioned by the overthrow and death of that country’s long standing dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, to establish a foothold there should not be a matter of concern only to the West, but also to the surrounding countries, including Nigeria.
Ever before the emergence of IS as the global leader in terrorism, Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown terror group, had been known to have established links with al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, a franchise of al-Qaeda, which is regarded as the forerunner of IS. It has been established that some of the Boko Haram members had their training under AQIM in Libya and in northern Mali, when it briefly came under the control of jihadists two years ago. There is also a reported link with al-Shabaab, another terror group that operates in Somalia and makes occasional forays into Kenya.
Some of the weapons in Libya’s arsenal when Gaddafi was in power, including “shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, military ordinance that could be converted into improvised roadside bombs and precursor components of chemical weapons,” are feared to have now fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda franchise that occupied northern Mali.
If IS is defeated in the Middle East and the situation in Libya, where there are about three different groups claiming to be in charge, is brought under control, it should not be surprising if the next destination for jihadists would be Nigeria. This must not be allowed to happen.
These are strong reasons why the ongoing coordinated military action involving the Nigerian Armed Forces and their counterparts from Cameroon, Chad, Benin and Niger must not only be sustained, but accelerated against Boko Haram. All traces of the terror group, which, at the height of its operations, controlled about 13 local government areas in the North-East zone, must be cleared and proper patrols mounted across the various porous borders between Nigeria and her neighbours before IS becomes comfortably settled in Libya or before it is rooted out of Syria and Iraq.
The federal authorities should explore all offers of cooperation, especially the proposed regional force of some 3,000 troops,between the Economic Community of Central African Countries and the Economic Community of West African States to eliminate all vestiges of terror from the region. It was reported that after Chadian military overran a Boko Haram camp in northern Nigeria last week, they wanted to press deep into territory controlled by the Islamist group but Nigeria refused to let them. The Chadian army spokesman, Col. Azem Bermandoa, reportedly said, “We turned back because Nigeria did not authorise us to go any further.” This is a strategic blunder.
The global war on terror must be holistic. A great evil has been descending upon our world, the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, warned recently; an evil which has been growing more and more powerful: violent jihadism. In this kind of war, therefore, it is dangerous to take national pride too far. Cutting the impious chord between IS and Boko Haram will go a long way in defeating that “great evil.”
