Sahel Edition

Sahel: Clashes between Niger army and Boko Haram continue along border with NigeriaF

Posted On 22 March 2023

Number of times this article was read : 812

Niger’s army said its troops had killed around 20 jihadists and arrested 83 others in an operation against militants on its southeastern border with Nigeria. Troops supported by air power attacked jihadists who have been using Matari forest in Nigeria as a rear base for attacks in Niger, it said in a bulletin seen by AFP on Wednesday. Around 20 terrorists “were neutralised” and 83 suspected members of Nigeria’s Boko Haram group were arrested, it said. They were handed over to the Nigerian authorities, it said.

The operation was carried out from March 13-19 by Nigerien troops in the Multinational Joint Task Force, a seven-year-old four-country force aimed at rolling back jihadism in the Lake Chad region, it said.

Boko Haram launched a bloody campaign in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 that has killed over 40,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes, according to UN figures. But the group split in 2016, giving birth to a rival faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which now dominates in a fratricidal conflict.

The Niger army bulletin said the latest operation aimed at maintaining pressure on ISWAP by attacking its forest bolthole and cutting off lines of supply. Three bases, supply dumps and motorbikes were destroyed and weapons were seized, it said. The latest operation comes on the heels of an operation in southeastern Niger against Boko Haram followers who were reportedly fleeing ISWAP.

Last week, Niger state television said that on March 7 military surveillance spotted a “massive movement of people” along the Kamadougou  Yoge River, marking the border between the two countries. They had left a Boko Haram hideout in Nigeria’s Sambisa forest after coming under pressure by ISWAP and were heading towards Lake Chad, it said. “Around 30 terrorists were neutralised” and 960 other people, most of whom were women and children, were detained, taken to the town of Diffa and handed over to the Nigerian military authorities, it said.
The latest bulletin said 1,121 had been handed over. The vast Lake Chad region, shared by Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, is a notorious bolthole for both Boko Haram and ISWAP, who set up camps on islands in its marshlands. Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, is also facing a jihadist insurgency on its southwestern border with Mali.

AFP

More on the Sahel

Sudan’s Army Gains Ground in Kordofan as War Strains Power and Food Systems$

Sudan’s army is gaining ground in North Kordofan, securing key transport routes that could support a broader push west toward Darfur. But battlefield advances are unfolding alongside a deepening national crisis, with power grid failures, disrupted agriculture and local conflicts compounding the country’s instability. But this latest military momentum is unlikely to resolve Sudan’s widening humanitarian and infrastructure challenges.

Sahel: Niger Emerges as Key Battleground as JNIM and Islamic State Collide$

A defection, a blood feud, and overlapping territorial ambitions are pushing JNIM and the Islamic State Sahel Province into direct competition across western Niger. The outcome around the region of Dosso could determine whether Sahelian jihadist violence stays fragmented — or consolidates into a wider regional arc.

The Nigeria Precedent: Why Degrading One Group Won’t Secure Mali$

The Nigeria Precedent: Why Degrading One Group Won’t Secure Mali$

Seven months into an air campaign against ISWAP and Boko Haram, Nigeria’s broader insecurity crisis remains largely untouched. As Washington weighs a similar strike option against JNIM in Mali, the Nigeria case raises hard questions about what airpower can actually buy.