Thread by @VincentFoucher

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.

According to Yusuf, the IS spokesperson rejoices about the allegiance of some of the “khawarij”, a term than in the history of Islam designates “religious extremists” – in this instance JASDJ.

Yusuf insists that the Caliph said Shekau’s logic was not that of Islam, and that his followers have to atone and beg for Allah’s forgiveness, even if they have rallied to ISWAP.

Yusuf mentions that the JASDJ fighters who have rallied are from Sambisa, Buhari (the Lake) and the mountain (the Mandara hills). He reacts to a “recent” video that some JASDJ hardliners put out, rejecting the “representatives of the (Islamic) state”.

It could be Bakura Sahalaba’s June 2021 video where he insisted on JASDJ’s loyalty to the IS Caliph but rejected ISWAP, which I discussed in the thread below. It could also be something else.

https://twitter.com/VincentFoucher/status/1404504664222187520

Nothing too surprising in this audio, really. But Yusuf's insistence on his legitimacy as the IS rep is telling of his insecurity and of Shekau's ambiguous dance with the IS: for many of his men, Shekau was the real rep of the Caliph.

Also of note is Yusuf's scolding of JASDJ defectors, his insistence that they need to repent. From interviews with JASDJ defectors, I am told after they took over Sambisa, ISWAP rallied most top JASDJ commanders... but disarmed many JASDJ fighters.

It was part of a plan to prevent pushback and to impose the ISWAP line: no preying on (Muslim) civilians. And it called into question the very survival of JASDJ fighters, who lived off plunder. Could it be ISWAP did not think of that?

This was key in getting many JASDJ fighters to later defect or join JASDJ groups that were fighting on outside of the Sambisa.

edit: Buhair, not Buhari, of course...