#BokoHaram Roadblocks, Ambushes In Borno Claiming Prime Targets
[THREAD]
On Sunday, September 20, insurgents mounted a roadblock on the road leading to Maiduguri from Monguno town, in Monguno Local Government Area, Borno State, northeast Nigeria. Monguno is 130 kilometres northeast of Maiduguri. State officials from the Ministry of Health in ..
Maiduguri were among the travellers on the road that day.
The health officials were on assignment to fumigate internally displaced persons camps in the garrison town. When these particular travellers got to the roadblock, it was already too late when they realised they were ..
in the hands of insurgents.
The roadblock, mounted by fighters of one of the splinter groups of Boko Haram, recognised as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), served as abduction point. The gunmen immediately seized all the occupants of the vehicle and killed ..
two soldiers escorting the officials.
On Monday, 21 September 2020, the Brigade Commander of 25 Task Force Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Dahiru Bako died from injuries sustained after ISWAP ambushed his patrol team in northern Borno.
Last week ISWAP also abducted five employees of the Borno State Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, including an aid worker with the Action Against Hunger. Similar to the attack in Monguno, this incident occurred at a roadblock mounted by ISWAP in Kareto
Damasak Local Government Area some 150 kilometres northwest of Maiduguri.
According to intelligence reports sighted by HumAngle, about 90 per cent of all Boko Haram captives in 2020 were abducted on the highways. The report also highlighted that less than 10 percent of all ..
the abductions occur during raids on communities.
The two major factions in the insurgency, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), have recently resorted to daily ambushes of military convoys and civilian travellers.
The horrors of these violent crimes include robbery, abduction, burning vehicles and summary execution, depending on the profile of their victims. “They do not spare security officials. Local traders are robbed, while visitors to the area, NGO workers, state officials ..
and students are abducted,” confided a driver who is familiar with the incidents to HumAngle.
Implications Of Pantami Saga For Deradicalisation And National Security
[THREAD]
Brewing political crisis and debates on Nigeria’s communications minister, @DrIsaPantami, if not managed properly, could have unintended consequences of derailing deradicalisation across the country’s northern region and the Sahel.
A series of publications targeted at an Islamic cleric and Nigerian government minister has led to scrutiny of his previous extremist rhetoric; but these tensed debates, if not managed properly can risk undermining efforts to promote deradicalisation and counter extremism.
Nigerian Minister Pantami Recants Old Views, Says He Is Against Extremism
After clips of his inflammatory preaching surfaced, Nigeria’s communication & digital economy Minister, @DrIsaPantami has divorced himself from his old views, saying he is a different person now.
[THREAD]
Dr Isa Ali Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, has reacted to the allegations associating him with extremist views and terrorist groups saying that his old fatwas (Islamic rulings) should be read within historical context.
Speaking during his Ramadan tafsir session at the Annur Mosque in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Saturday, April 17, Pantami, who is under public scrutiny for his past stance on extremism, said his old views & religious stances were shaped by lack of facts & he no longer holds them.
‘Leave As Soon As Possible’: US, UK Raise Concerns About Post-Election Unrest In Chad
The election was held amid controversy with opposition leaders urging people not to vote, and attacks from Libya-based rebels.
[THREAD]
The United States and United Kingdom governments have warned their citizens against travelling to or remaining in the Republic of Chad after a fresh wave of armed violence followed the conduct of presidential elections.
A convoy belonging to the armed rebel group, ...
Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), had crossed into the Central African country from Libya on Sunday, April 11, and engaged government security forces. The following Saturday, the rebels proceeded southwest apparently in the direction of the capital, N’Djamena.
Damasak: When Going Home Becomes Unsafe For Returnee-IDPs
[THREAD]
The government of Borno, Northeast Nigeria, started an IDP resettlement programme in 2020; Damasak is one the target communities. However, a few months after hundreds of households relocated to Damasak, the border community is once again unsafe.
This week, two disconcerting videos trended on social media — one from a faction of the armed insurgent group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and the other from fleeing residents of Damasak, a town in Northeast Nigeria.
Damasak: The Nigerian Town Caught In ISWAP’s Crosshairs
The Nigerian military deployed reinforcements after the terror group went on rampage in Damasak that dislodged thousands of locals.
[THREAD]
A series of attacks launched by ISWAP, the Islamic State affiliate in West Africa, in Damasak, a town close to the shores of Lake Chad, has led to the dislodgement of some residents and disruption of badly needed humanitarian assistance.
Damasak, the main town of Mobbar Local Government Area, is located near the border with the Niger Republic.
It is protected by the Army Super Camp 14 situated in the new base about two to three kilometres from the town, along the Abadam-Guzamala road.
IDP Diaries: “Rann Bombing Did Not Kill Me But This Hunger Might”
Muhammad narrowly escaped death during the Rann bombing in 2017. He sustained injuries & lost loved ones. In this diary, he talks about his move from camp to camp & how IDP aid has reduced since then.
[THREAD]
There is hunger. It is not new. Things are difficult. The women now go and pick guinea corn that has sprouted from the ones destroyed by elephants. It took years before I was registered in this camp and in that time, my family and I had to farm; but elephants destroyed our crops.
Some people had to go to Cameroon to farm and we had friends who could not eat for two or three days.
Things were not always this bad. Before the bombing in 2017, organisations like the Red Cross used to give us a lot of materials. My name is Muhammad Al-Jarawa. We were ...