What Boko Haram's allegiance to the ISIS reveals

The Nigerian jihadi militant group Boko Haram (literally "Western education is forbidden") has given a big boost  to the credibility of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Africa by pledging allegiance to the self-styled "caliphate". The Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in an unverified audio message posted on Twitter announced: "We announce our allegiance to the caliph... and will hear and obey in times of prosperity." He called upon, "Muslims everywhere to pledge allegiance to the caliph."

Jihadi militants in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen in the Arab world have already pledged their allegiance to the ISIS "caliph" Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi. In real terms it may not add much to ISIS capabilities. But as Boko Haram is the most powerful and active non-Arab jihadi militant group in Africa, its affiliation will certainly add to the ISIS' prestige in the continent (including Arab countries) which has 53 per cent of world's Muslim population. It will help ISIS to take advantage of sections of the younger generation in Africa who have come under the spell of ISIS' well orchestrated propaganda blitz on the social media campaign across the globe. But it would not be an easy exercise for ISIS due to Africa's poor communication, low internet density, competing tribal and ethnic loyalties cutting across national boundaries and the ever increasing Christian evangelisation campaigns.

Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf as a conservative Islamic sect in 2002 in Maiduguri in the Bomo province in the North-eastern Nigeria bordering Chad and Cameroon. It seeks to create an Islamic state guided by Sharia laws. Alarmed at its growing militant activities, Nigerian army carried out operations in July 2009 killing 700 people most of them believed to be Boko Haram followers. Boko Haram founder Yusuf was taken prisoner, however, he was killed under controversial circumstances "while trying to escape from military custody." Some of the Boko Haram survivors fled to Algeria, Somalia and probably Afghanistan they came back better trained, armed and motivated to serve under the second in command Shekau who took over as leader after Yusuf death. His killing seems to have hardened the resolve of both Shekau and his followers to build a vicious and powerful outfit today. Boko Haram now matches the ISIS in the brutality and barbarism of its actions against prisoners and hapless civilian population particularly women and children.

ISIS already seems to have impressed Boko Haram with its sophisticated publicity methods to reach and motivate the youth who have been exposed only to madarasa education in villages. Boko Haram already has a nebulous control over large chunks of territory in the North-eastern states of Yobe, Bomo and Adamawa in Nigeria. Its writ runs over large areas of Kanuri-ethnicity in these states.

Since 2011, some of Boko Haram's daring terrorist strikes have caught international media attention. These include suicide bomb attacks on police offices and the UN office in Nigeria's capital Abuja, in which 11 UN staff members and 12 others were killed. Last April, Boko Haram's kidnapping of 275 school girls from Chibok in Borno state attracted worldwide condemnation particularly after its leader Shekau announced his intention to sell them into slavery.

Boko Haram has also been active in neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. It demonstrated its capability in Cameroon by kidnapping the wife of the vice president of Cameroon in July 2014. Earlier in May, Boko Haram had kidnapped ten Chinese workers employed in a construction company in a Northern Cameroon town near the Nigerian border. Cameroon forces' operations failed to free the lady and the Chinese workers held hostage who were released by Boko Haram in October 2014. However, it was not clear whether any ransom was paid for their release. Boko Haram has continued to operate with impunity in Cameroon, and Chad in 2015 also.

Boko Haram's success has exposed the inability of Nigerian President Good Luck Jonathan to either politically negotiate a solution with the jihadists or effectively use the military to put down the insurgency. It also showed Nigerian forces' lack of competency in carrying out counter insurgency operations. There were also reports of Boko Haram infiltrating Nigerian forces. Moreover, though Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon have an agreement to carry out joint and coordinated operations against Boko Haram, in reality this does not seem to have produced any worthwhile results. Nothing illustrates this better than the January 3, 2015 attack of Boko Haram on a military base in Baga used by the multinational forces. Boko Haram seized the base and set fire to the town and massacred thousands of people, though the Nigerian government said the reports were highly exaggerated.

President Jonathan has already postponed the national election by six weeks until March 28, 2015 due to the Boko Haram threat. He hopes to be come out triumphant in the elections for yet another term in office. But it may not be easy as the jihadi insurgency has rendered a few lakhs of people homeless and nearly 200,000 people are estimated to have fled to Cameroon due to the war which does not seem to be abating.  

Boko Haram's allegiance to the ISIS also indicates the waning influence of the al Qaeda. In 2009, al Qaeda linked groups like Al Shabab in Somalia and the al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in neighbouring Niger and Algeria had helped Boko Haram recover after it lost its founding leader Yusuf and hundreds of cadres. These jihadi groups  armed and trained Boko Haram cadres who sought refuge in their countries. AQIM is also believed to have channelised funds to Boko Haram from donors in Saudi Arabia and UK.  

Will all this make a difference to the ISIS fortunes in India? Probably not; in any case ISIS has enough assets in Pakistan after hundreds of cadres quit Pakistani Taliban (TTP) to join the newly opened branch of ISIS in Pakistan in October 2014 after the military operations in North Waziristan. However, now we can expect more gullible youth to be impressed with the ISIS sway over three continents.