By
Syed Zain Abbas Rizvi
January 29,
2021
The terror
of the Islamic State (IS) is hardly unheard of in any corner of the world. The
tales of their manslaughter are enough to send a chill through bones. A
reminder of the barbaric nature of the militant group that elevated it to
global notoriety over the past two decades. While the Middle-East; Syria and
Iraq more specifically, primarily suffered the carnage, the regional countries
were not spared of the nightmare. Pakistan serves as a prime example of the
chronic terror and ideology of IS that still continues to wage war-like frenzy.
Pakistan continues to fight against the offshoot of the Islamic State, under
the banner of ‘Daesh’ that has wreaked havoc in the past years: a spree of the
inhuman massacre that has all but surpassed the gruelling era of Taliban in the
north-east Pakistan. However, despite of numerous examples of the spreading
influence of IS all over Middle-East and Asia, none compares to a singular
fragment that started off on a similar timeline when IS loomed the State of
Libya. The Nigerian-niched group, notoriously known as ‘Boko Haram’, gripped
the county in a vise quite similar to IS in Syria. Though while the Islamic
State relinquished over the recent years, Boko Haram still grips the roots of
Northern Africa, stretching over a decade of chaos.
Nigeria is
arguably the most famous African country in the world. Serving as the parental
root of the black diaspora around the globe, Nigeria also stands as the most
populous country of the continent while also enjoying the technologically
advanced industries like none other in the North African region. What a layman
might deem as success and a progressive trajectory, however, was not regarded
as such by a particular stratum of the Nigerian society. Early 2000’s marked
the birth of Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah, more commonly known as ‘Boko
Haram’ ~‘Western Teachings are Forbidden’. A charismatic religious speaker,
Muhammad Yusuf, founded the group in 2002 as an academic institution to preach
the teachings of Islam though his perspective. He set up his teaching complex
in Maiduguri, Borno; a far north-east state of Nigeria. Yusuf’s ideology paced
like wildfire, spewing hatred against the western teachings, degrading the
culture and accusing the Nigerian government of beingun-Islamic, corrupt and
under the influence of the western countries. His hatred pulsated in all
circles of Nigeria regardless of age, gender or the socio-economic standing.
Boko Haram
steadily picked up the trackage to their eventual eruption in July 2009. The
group, still nascent, launched a floundering uprising against the government of
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The Nigerian military crushed the upheaval with a severe
crackdown; the retaliation killing over and above 800 supporters of Boko Haram.
The survivors, including the founder Muhammad Yusuf, were immediately taken
into custody to avoid further furore. The victory over the group was nailed to
the head when Yusuf died in police custody, presumably diffusing Boko Haram.
However, the dismantled group was just the beginning of the most blood-stained
decade of the Nigerian History.
The
Nigerian regime celebrated the victory over Boko Haram yet the reverie was
short-lived. Just a year following the death of Yusuf, one of his Lieutenants
known by the name of ‘Abu-Bakr Shekau’ claimed to be the new leader of Boko
Haram and was pledged allegiance by the followers. The group rampaged the
streets of Nigeria under the newfound leadership of Shekau, murdering anyone
who dared to counter their modus operandi. The victims of their blood-thirst
ranged from religious clerics; regardless of their religious affiliation, to
police officers to politicians. Boko Haram pervaded from its initial roots in
Borno towards northern and central Nigeria, launching bombings and suicide
attacks on churches, mosques, police stations and transit circuits. The attack
that compelled global attention to the group’s escalation was the car bomb
blast in the compound of the UN headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja
back in 2011. The attack accounted to 23 fatalities along with dozens severely
injured.
In 2013,
the United States marked Boko Haram as a recognised global terrorist group,
projecting a fear of the group’s ultimate transition to the likes of Al-Qaeda.
The bad omen proved right as Boko Haram continued its bloodletting over the
following years to completely hold the reigns of Borno. By 2015, Boko Haram
stood as the only militant group to have stirred such a mass butchery in
Africa, adding a tally of 11,000 murdered in the regions of Bama, Gwoza and
Chibok while simultaneously spreading wings beyond the Nigerian borders in the
neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram established their capital in
Gwoza as their spread over Northern Africa eerily reminisced the spread of the
Islamic State over Syria and Iraq.
Boko Haram
shook the world again in 2014 when they invaded the girls’ school in Chibok,
kidnapping over 200 girls with the intention of Marriage and settlement. In
spite of the global outrage and western pressure for the release of the
abducted girls, to date over 100 girls remain under captivity with no trace or
hope of return. The hapless state of the country and plummeting power of the
Nigerian military is evident by the fact that while the regime successfully
regained the capital of Gwoza, Boko Haram continues to flow through Nigeria and
advances in its strategies and technology, imminent enough to thrum the
military in years to come.
The worst
fears of both the western world and the Nigerian government came about in 2016
when the Islamic State announced its budding alliance with Boko Haram. The
group eventually split, one part still under the leadership of Shekau while the
other going by the name of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) under
the leadership of the Abu Musab al-Barnawi, rumoured son of the late founder of
Boko Haram. However, despite of the split, the groups have maintained ties in
strategic coordination that has completely sabotaged the defence of the
Nigerian army.
Boko haram
has repeatedly claimed, in the words of Abu-Bakr Shekau: “We are an Islamic
Caliphate and have nothing to do with Nigeria”. Evident from the tone and
context that the group has gained enough power and network over the past decade
to have a fearless tenor to their violence. Boko Haram has killed more than
30,000 people in its decade-long slaughter and has been the root cause of over
2 million Nigerians being displaced and diffused to neighbouring counties to
seek asylum from the terror-spewing dominance of Boko Haram. The bifurcated
groups operate more than 9000terrorist cells all over the Nigerian terrain
while holding over 1000 natives as captives. Despite of the repeated warnings,
Islamic State has found another base in the form of ISWAP after its throttling
defeat ad annihilation in the Middle-East. Boko Haram with its terror-paved ideals
and sophisticated networks has laid a plush carpet for IS to lay its
foundations in Africa and start afresh. Now as ISWAP and Boko Haram gain more
footing in the region, military failures allowing more room of expansion and
government dilemmas putting a damper on foreign support, a sinister possibility
is emerging in the form of a blood-tainted decade mirroring the mayhem faced by
Syria.
Original
Headline: Boko Haram: A Reflection of IS on Africa
Source: The Modern Diplomacy
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/islamic-state-found-another-base/d/124220
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism