Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #BokoHaram

Most recents (24)

Seeing a recent edited volume on “terrorism” in Africa. Published by a decent academic publishing house (don’t ask, I won’t tell). There is a chapter on #BokoHaram. I am reading the few pages I can access on Google Books (the volume is absurdly expensive). A (sad) thread…
It is such a demoralising read. Reflecting the parlous state of publications on Boko Haram and broader problems within academia. A thread…
Boko Haram, because it’s fancy, is a great topic to publish about. Everybody wants to know something about this. The problem is, very few people do actual research. Because it’s difficult.
Read 29 tweets
Some very interesting info from @SimNasr here on Shekau's 2015 allegiance to the Islamic State... #BokoHaram #JASDJ #ISWAP According a cleric who facilitated the conversation, Abou Malek, the IS had reservations and set its conditions. A thread.
This included an end to end of hostage taking of children of other communities (presumably Christians?), Shekau's replacement in PR by a spokesperson, and the centralisation of media.
I find it telling that this had a lot to do with image-control - the IS wanting to preserve its brand... and clearly not keen on Shekau's demotic style of propaganda.
Read 9 tweets
As #ISWAP and #JASDJ #BokoHaram fight it out, I am going through an old-ish audio by Habib Yusuf aka Abu Musab al Barnawi about the difficult reunification of jihad in Borno following the death of Shekau. New to me, but dating from early 2022 or before. A thread…
Habib explains and comments in Kanuri an audio sent by the Islamic State – in this instance Abu Hamzat al Qurayshi al Muhajir, who was the IS spokesperson until his death in February 2022. The audio mentions Abu Ibrahim Al Hashimi as IS Caliph, who was also killed in Feb 2022.
So the audio dates somewhere between Shekau’s death in May 2021 and February 2022.
Read 12 tweets
1. 🌍🔥|👉 Comenzamos #Hilo sobre las #Guerras en el mundo en este 2023🗓️

🪖🌐👉 Actualmente hay unos 60 #Conflictos además de la #InvasiónDeUcrania 🇺🇦🇷🇺, de diferentes niveles. Hablaremos de los 10 más importantes

#Geopolítica #ElMundoEnConflicto

#Hilo 🇪🇸🌐⬇️⬇️ Image
2. 🌍🇲🇲🔥|👉 La #GuerraCivilDeBirmania comenzó de nuevo después de las #Insurgencias de larga duración de #Birmania que se intensificaron en respuesta al #GolpeDeEstado militar de 2021 🟨🟩🟥

#Geopolítica #ElMundoEnConflicto

#Hilo 🇪🇸🌐⬆️⬇️ Image
3. 🌍🇮🇱🇵🇸🔥|👉 El #ConflictoÁrabeIsraelí es un conflicto social y armado en curso entre #Israelíes y #Palestinos por el control de la misma #Patria, que se remonta a principios del siglo XX 🇮🇱🇵🇸🕊️

#Geopolítica #ElMundoEnConflicto

#Hilo 🇪🇸🌐⬆️⬇️ Image
Read 11 tweets
Some more news about the #Bakura faction and its malcontents... Following the killing of Sahalaba by Bakura, a group of #JASDJ #BokoHaram went their own way... a mini-thread...
So it really was the case that Bakura had a beef with Sahalaba, who had taken over as imam of JASDJ after Shekau's death in May 2021. Sahalaba was a well established religious scholar, who used to be a qadi. His religious legitimacy was key to his ascension to the imamate.
But Bakura, who used to be the top military commander (amir ul fiya) of pro-Shekau jihadis on Lake Chad , was not happy to be supplanted as top dog because of his insufficient religious knowledge.
Read 8 tweets
A devastating report by @Reuters about a mass programme of forced abortion ran by the Nigerian military in the struggle against #BokoHaram reuters.com/investigates/s…. A thread...
The report is amply sourced (a remarkable job by Reuters, given the sensitivity of the topic). And it is convincing. And things we know otherwise add to the plausibility.
As is clear in the extracts from several military and civilians involved in the programme, there was a combination of worry and suspicion about the children being born from women who had an association, voluntary or else, with Boko Haram.
Read 23 tweets
BORDERLANDS SECURITY AFFAIRS

Dozens of Chadian Soldiers Killed in #BokoHaram Surprise Attack | RFI

amp.rfi.fr/en/africa/2022…
Looks like this was the second deadliest attack suffered by our Chadian brothers after the March 2020 blowout which saw them losing 92 soldiers in one battle.

reuters.com/article/chad-s…
This attack has again proven our assertion that the Super Camp strategy adopted in Nigeria and copied by the Malians appears to work better than isolated FOBs.

This was supposedly a 150-man contingent looking to go an fortify an isolated FOB. ISWAP struck.

Ponder the outcome
Read 4 tweets
THE HISTORY OF BOKO-HARAM

Boko haram has become a common phrase on the tongues of many but before this sect became an infamous Islamic armed insurgent seeking to overthrow the Nigerian government;

#Thread
they were a group created by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 with the ultimate aim of fighting western education.
They were met with strict resistance from the Nigerian military and in July 2009, their leader Mohammed was killed in public view by the police.
Abubakar Shekau in July 2010 through a video declared himself the group’s new leader. He received support from other jihadist organizations such as al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab to continue their insurgency in Nigeria.
Read 7 tweets
Is there a threat that Abuja is facing?
Yes.
Has there ever been any threat?
Yes.
Is the recent threat different from past ones?
Yes.
How is it different?
Today's ISWAP has an expansionist agenda, not limited to their fixation on territorial control in the #LakeChad basin
Today's ISWAP had far more sophistication than #BokoHaram did pre-2015 when Abuja came under attack.
#ISWAP has global networks; the goal is no longer limited to local targets but also international interests. That's why the diplomatic community in Abuja is on overdrive
However, the alertness and preparedness of security agencies within Abuja today are greater than in the pre-2015 era. But don't get me wrong, we will all be fooling ourselves if we think Abuja will be spared from the insecurity spreading like wildfire across the country.
Read 6 tweets
Some notes about #ISWAP, #JASDJ #BokoHaram. Mamman Nur & Habib Yusuf broke away from Abubakar Shekau in 2016 with a strong reform agenda. I think it can be summed up as a rationalisation / bureaucratisation of jihad. Just one example of this: penal reform. A thread...
Shekau was famous for the spectacular violence he visited upon people he deemed criminals (adulterers, thieves, drugs dealers and users). Executions, chopping hands and feet, brutal flogging… He and his men made shows of this, for the education of the masses.
There, we are squarely in the realm of the spectacle of extreme violence: brutal, but intermittent. The ruthless affirmation of sovereignty and quest for purity.
Read 17 tweets
At least three #Ansaru leaders lost their lives after an explosive went off in their camp. The deceased were Bawa, Mallam and Salisu. Bawa was only top Fulani leader among the #Ansaru terror. It was said the incident happened in Damari forest in Katsina state. Details later
Abdullah Makera who deputized Mallam Musa sustained a serious injury in his right leg. A local source said the explosive was mounted by a rival group suspected to be #BokoHaram fighters in collaboration with bandit leader identified as Baushe.
Prior to this attack, #Ansaru have been gaining more ground in forest occupied by bandits and other #BokoHaram elements in Birnin Gwari and neighboring communities in Katsina, Niger and Zamfara state
Read 4 tweets
Hearing about #JASDJ #BokoHaram used to designate not only Islamic courts to implement sharia law, but also a level down, mediators who would try to resolve local conflicts before they were taken to the courts...
As @AdamBaczko and others have shown, part of the edge that territorialised jihadi organisations can have is their capacity to provide cheap and relatively efficient and credible governance.
Yes, #JASDJ and other jihadi structures have not shied from implementing and demonstrating gruesome and gory huddud punishments... But under that, there has been a lot more going on, an attempt to address discrete daily conflicts.
Read 4 tweets
@daily_trust EDITORIAL: Nigeria: A Nation In Search Of Its Leader.

On his short tour of Kuje Correctional Centre, following an attack on the facility by members of ISWAP, during which hundreds of inmates escaped, President @MBuhari could not hide his disappointment....
President @MBuhari could not hide his disappointment with the whole system of security intelligence in the country.
And his words were appropriately probing. “How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack? How many inmates were in the facility?
"How many of them can you account for? How many personnel did you have on duty? How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?”, the President @MBuhari queried, and demanded.
Read 28 tweets
This figure is astounding. And the problem is particularly acute in the north. What an indictment of the Nigerian elites… Has anything been learned from the #BokoHaram experience? It’s in the very name of Boko Haram, ffs. “Western education is forbidden”.
Even if that name is a derisive designation by critics, it is true that the movement has criticised state-style education, and has brutally targeted it. It’s not just the Chibok girls: remember the massacre of schoolboys, the destruction of schools!
And even before things got violent, Mohamed Yusuf was criticising state-promoted, state-producing, Western-style education. For some of the content. But also because he perceived it as the beginning of an “allegiance” to the Nigerian state.
Read 11 tweets
Seeing new #JASDJ #BokoHaram videos doing the rounds… Different groups of fighters in different settings, talking in different languages (Arabic, Buduma, Kanuri, Kanembu and Arabic). Clearly, we are near the Lake. A thread. Image
In these videos (complete with antics à la Shekau), they affirm their loyalty to their imam, Abu Umaymah (mentioned in a prior video as replacement for Sahalaba, recently executed by JASDJ). It's not a pledge, though. It's about rejecting unambiguously any agreement with #ISWAP. Image
JASDJ does not name ISWAP. They call them apostates and “murjiah”, a term that refers to an old interpretation of Islam according to which one has to delay (irja) passing judgment on people, God being the only judge. In modern Salafi-jihadi parlance, this means “softies”.
Read 8 tweets
Some thoughts on the BLA attack in #Karachi University [Thread]

No doubt, the #Baloch insurgency has been redefining itself since 2011. What is surprising is how Baloch separatists, many of whom define themselves as secular nationalists, have now started following the same
strategy that has been used by hardcore Islamists such as #Bokoharam in Nigeria, Islamic State (#ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, Al Qaeda, and #Taliban in #Afghanistan. Use of women as suicide bombers.
This is the fifth rebellion in #Balochistan, and the current one is the longest, which broke out in early 2000. Still, it’s the first time the separatist GROUP #BLA has used a female suicide bomber to attack #Chinese nationals in #Karachi. There are many reasons.
Read 15 tweets
Learning something about Mohamed Yusuf, founder of the movement often known as #BokoHaram, known for his opposition to aspects of Western education ("Boko") which he deemed incompatible with Islam...
Yusuf was not always hostile to "Boko". His own children, including Habib Yusuf, who became the wali of #ISWAP in 2016, used to attend Al Kanemi College in Maiduguri, a private institution of repute, using English as teaching language (but also teaching Arabic).
But after Yusuf developed his criticism of "Boko", he removed his kids from Al Kanemi and sent them to a Quranic school in Maiduguri.
Read 6 tweets
"Hindutva means the Indian culture and not merely the Hindu religion" - The Supreme Court of India, 1995.

But

#SalmanKhurshid in his new book compared 'Hindutva' to the ideology of #BokoHaram and #ISIS.

This thread is a rebuttal to this outrageous claim.

Read on ⬇️
1/ Minority Rights

Boko Haram & ISIS: No place for minorities.

India: Minorities constitute about 19% population. India is the birthplace of many religion such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism etc. Version of Islam such as Ahmadiya movement & Sufism found home in India.
2/ Tolerance

Boko Haram & ISIS: Co-religionists who do not adhere to the specific endorsed version are persecuted too. Eg: Shia persecution

India: Hinduism is known for its diversity & tolerance. Every region has different manifestation. Yet they coexist peacefully.
Read 7 tweets
#Nigéria vidéo de 16:51 de l’#EI sur les opérations dans le #Borno & #Yobi sur plusieurs mois. Extrait 1 qui confirme encore une fois l’usage de blindé en tête des troupes pour percer les défenses de l’armée
#Nigéria #EI Extrait 2 qui confirme encore une fois l’allégeance absolue au calife Ibrahim en full gear. S’il faut encore le rappeler, si les dynamiques locales priment l’allégeance et la filiation sont bien réelles
#Nigéria extrait3 démonstration de force depuis plusieurs localités suite à l’absorption de la majorité des forces du #JAS [#BokoHaram] suite à la mort de #Shekau. Discours du porte parole en fond. Mise en scène rappelant la période d’apogée de l’EIIL puis #EI en #Syrie #Irak
Read 4 tweets
A thread on recent events in Sambisa. There are some reasons to think #ISWAP has largely prevailed for now in the struggle that broke out in August with malcontent #JASDJ groups who refused to rally. #BokoHaram
A 15-minute ISWAP video has been circulating for a few days, which discusses the issue of the JASDJ dissenters. The video comprises of four segments.
First, there is a short extract by Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi, the official spokesperson of the Islamic State, taken from a speech he made after Shekau’s death. The extract chosen welcomes the victory of ISWAP over the “khawarij”, the “extremists”.
Read 14 tweets
Significance Of September 6: From Nigerian Army Declaring Me Wanted To Shaping HumAngle

THREAD humanglemedia.com/significance-o…
On Sept. 6, five years ago, I landed in Abuja on an Emirates flight from the UAE after the Nigerian Army declared me a wanted man on Aug. 14, 2016. I heard the news on Al Jazeera before I began to receive calls from friends and family.
I was very shocked because I had a chat with the COAS less than 2wks before the embarrassing declaration by the Army under his leadership. According to the Army spokesman at the time, my crime was that I knew where the #ChibokGirls were and refused to share their location.
Read 29 tweets
About the reports on #BokoHaram associates defecting in Cameroon & Nigeria... a thread... First, it is a welcome development, and it is clear that it has a lot to do with the Lake Chad states setting up and advertising defection/reintegration programmes.
Jihadis would not come out if it were not for those programmes, which make clear to them that there is a safe way out. It seems previous defectors play a big role in facilitating additional exits, too - informing potential defectors & contacting the authorities on their behalf.
So much for critics of these programmes... Yes, these pgs come with flaws, but if they can get some people to stop fighting, they are useful.
Read 8 tweets
NEW: Just released @UN report warns of "heightened threats emerging" from #ISIS #alQaida affiliated groups worldwide

"This is especially true in parts of West and East #Africa" per the report, based on member state intelligence
In West/East #Africa, affiliates of #ISIS #alQaida "can boast gains in supporters and territory under threat, as well as growing capabilities in fundraising & weapons, for example, in the use of drones" per the @UN report
#ISIS in #Syria "has evolved into an entrenched insurgency, exploiting weaknesses in local security to find safe havens & targeting forces engaged in counter-ISIL operations" per the @UN report
Read 55 tweets
I definitely agree, @judithverweijen. So let me try and reflect a bit about policy and knowledge re: global jihad and African franchises based on what I have learnt from the #BokoHaram field...
As the title of your paper makes clear, your preoccupation with the insistance on the global jihadi connection of the (former?) ADF has to do essentially with policy, not with knowledge.
I share that concern: reductio ad jihadum is very dangerous indeed, & states should not be given a free pass just because their enemy is jihadi or has jihadi connections. Jihadi draw their strength from the unfair and abusive nature of states and of the global system.
Read 21 tweets

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