Is Islamic State shaping media of Nigeria's Boko Haram?
Following the launch of an official Twitter feed for the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram last month, there have been multiple signs that the group's media operation has been influenced by the expansionist Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS or ISIL).

The group, which refers to itself as Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad had not previously maintained an established online channel for its propaganda or any official social media presence in any language.

But on 18 January, an Arabic-language Twitter account purporting to be the official outlet for a new Boko Haram media group called Al-Urwah al-Wuthqa was launched and immediately promoted by key pro-IS media operatives.

Since then, the group has used the feed to publish a stream of propaganda, including two new videos, and has been trailing a third, although there has been some disruption to its media activities following the suspension of the original account by Twitter.

Signs of Islamic State influence

The increased sophistication and organisation of the propaganda that followed the launch of the Twitter account bore signs of the influence of IS, which has honed its social media exploitation over the past year.

This appeared to indicate that the group may have been assisted by IS media operatives, or influenced by IS in an indirect way.

Boko Haram has followed the example of IS by publishing branded photographs of its militants and the areas under its control to illustrate its successes on the ground.

The Twitter feed has also been posting a stream of short statements about the group's activities, claiming operations in a timely manner, in the mould of Islamic State's one-line tweeted claims.



There have been inconsistencies in Boko Haram's media operation

Both videos released so far via the new Boko Haram Twitter account were more slickly crafted than the group's standard grainy offerings, with professionally designed graphics and high quality opening sequences.

This improvement and the use of multiple languages and well-presented subtitles - using English, Arabic and Hausa - suggested the group may have had outside help from IS media operatives.

Arabic-language jihadist anthems have also been used in the latest two videos, one of which has been routinely used in IS propaganda.

One of the videos was billed as the first in a series entitled Message from a Mujahid, which featured a militant from the group defending the group's ideology, tactics and plans. IS itself has a series of videos with the same title featuring its militants speaking to camera.

Not as sophisticated as IS

But despite the improvements in quality, the recent Boko Haram propaganda has not been as slick and sophisticated as propaganda from IS itself.

Boko Haram has also been referring to itself repeatedly as an Islamic State or "Islamic State in West Africa".

However, this did not suggest that Boko Haram was necessarily positioning itself as part of the wider IS caliphate.

The group is still using its traditional Arabic name to promote its material and its branding remains distinct from that of IS.



Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau declared an "Islamic State" in northern Nigeria in August last year and praised IS for its military advances the previous month. But he has never spoken clearly about any ties between the two groups.

One of the strongest signs of Islamic State influence lies in the concerted efforts to promote the new Twitter feed by a senior pro-IS media operative, known on Twitter as "Abu-Malik Shaybah al-Hamad", who claimed to have been in contact with the Boko Haram general command.

His apparent lines of communication with the Boko Haram leadership could point to a media cooperation link between IS and the Nigerian group, although Al-Hamad insisted that he had heard from the group's leaders that it had "not yet" pledged allegiance to IS.

Inconsistencies and disruption

Since the launch of the Boko Haram Twitter account there have been inconsistencies in the group's media operation, suggesting that a lack of professionalism persists among those responsible for publishing the group's propaganda.

For example, a new video featuring Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau giving a speech in Arabic appeared online on 9 February but was not distributed via the new Twitter feed.

The video's Arabic-language credits contained a number of serious spelling mistakes, including the name of the group itself and its new media group Al-Urwah al-Wuthqa, and the overall quality was far lower than the videos released via the Twitter account.



Nigerians are still waiting for the release of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram

Boko Haram's new Twitter feed has also suffered disruption.

The original Twitter account was suspended on 1 February, just two weeks after it was first promoted.

A replacement account was set up the same day but only started tweeting on 8 February.

Despite general improvements in the timeliness of its output, the latest video to be trailed via the official Twitter feed (on 8 February) has yet to be released there nine days later.

There were signs that the film, entitled Ubat al-Daym (Refusers of Injustice), was posted on YouTube on 10 February and again on 14 February, but both copies have since been removed.

Since the original account was suspended, the feed has been less prolific.

Links between Boko Haram and Islamic State

The exact nature of any connection between Boko Haram and Islamic State remains unclear.

In a recent edition of its English-language magazine Dabiq, IS acknowledged having received pledges of allegiance from jihadists in Nigeria.



"All united against Boko Haram" say these protestors in Niamey

But it made no mention of Boko Haram or any other Nigerian jihadist group and indicated that further conditions needed to be met before IS would consider announcing an official branch in the country.

For its part, Boko Haram has voiced support for Islamic State in the past and included excerpts from IS leadership messages in its own propaganda videos.

But there has been no evidence of any formal ties between the two groups, and the signs of media cooperation are inconclusive.

B

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31522469?ocid

Another thought provoking article

A must read for us all