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United States Special Forces Operatives Killed By Fulani herdsmen In Niger (ICG) - Foreign Affairs - Nairaland

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United States Special Forces Operatives Killed By Fulani herdsmen In Niger (ICG) by jpphilips(m): 8:33am On Feb 19, 2018
When four US special forces soldiers died in an ambush earlier this month in scrubby desert in western , attention was suddenly focused on one of the most remote and chaotic war zones on the planet.

The US troops had been embedded with a larger unit of Nigerien troops and were attacked as they left a meeting with local community leaders a few dozen kilometres from the remote town of Tongo Tongo.

Some reports claimed US troops were on a mission to kill or capture a high-value target in the area, perhaps even Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, the leader of the only local faction of fighters to have formally pledged allegiance to the .

Given the light armament of the US detachment, the scramble to evacuate them, and the lack of medical backup or reinforcements, this seems unlikely. The US troops were eventually rescued by French aircraft, which flew from bases about 300 miles away in neighbouring Mali.

French troops forced the militants back into the northern deserts of Mali in 2013, and a year later the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) split their coalition.

Some factions maintained their ties to al-Qaida in the Maghreb, the tenacious and powerful local affiliate of the veteran group founded by Osama bin Laden in 1988.

Al-Sahraoui went his own way with a few dozen extremist followers, eventually pledging allegiance to Isis in May 2015.

In recent years disaffected extremist leaders have looked to Isis for sponsorship – and advantage over their rivals – in conflict zones from west Africa to the Philippines.

Often such pledges of support have been welcomed by Isis high command. But it took , or oath of allegiance, to be formally accepted – and only after he proved his mettle with a series of attacks.

If it is hard to place factions in the Sahel on an organogram of extremist groups, it is even harder to place them on a map.

Other than Boko Haram, the Islamic State affiliate based in north-east Nigeria, no Islamic extremist faction in the Sahel currently has a fixed base, making it very difficult to track the whereabouts and evolution of any individual group.

Even Boko Haram, which gained global notoriety by abducting more than 200 schoolgirls in 2014, has suffered serious losses of manpower, funds and territory in recent months, and is now very scattered.

“Very few factions are looking to govern or control territory … These are highly flexible, mobile units moving frequently, changing areas and it’s very difficult to identify who is who and who controls what,” said Rida Lyammouri, a US-based independent researcher on the Sahel.

The US defence secretary, James Mattis, described the group which attacked the US special forces as “new to the area”.

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The dozen or so extremist factions operating across this vast area have, however, been responsible for scores of bloody attacks, and hundreds of deaths. Recent strikes have included a sophisticated assault on a military camp in Gao, Mali, which killed 77, and a series of attacks on hotels used by westerners and local elites.

Most of the groups responsible for these operations are linked to al-Qaida. yet even here there is little solidarity. A recent attempt by al-Qaida leaders to build a coalition among local jihadi groups is seen by analysts as evidence of quite how fractured the movement is in the region.

Ideology too is often unclear, with experts describing a complex mix of ethnic and other tensions which fuel militancy.

A recent report by the International Crisis Group noted that jihadist groups have established a presence in the northern Tillabery region, close to Tongo Tongo, through targeted recruitment of young members of the Fulani community – one of the largest ethnic groups in west Africa comprising mostly herders – who are looking for ways to counter their ethnic rivals or protect their businesses or communities.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/15/sahel-niger-us-special-forces-islamists
Re: United States Special Forces Operatives Killed By Fulani herdsmen In Niger (ICG) by jpphilips(m): 8:34am On Feb 19, 2018
IF Nigeria was a country where people reason with their heads not ethnic affiliations, one will easily decipher that the Fulani herdsmen we have known all our lives have been infiltrated by a deadlier terror group.

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Re: United States Special Forces Operatives Killed By Fulani herdsmen In Niger (ICG) by Ngokafor(f): 8:39am On Feb 19, 2018
And the terrorists strikes again..The real terrorists are the fulani herdsmen not IPOB...but since Nigeria is an abnormal country,terrorists tag peaceful organisation as terrorists..what an irony and a ticking time-bomb.
Re: United States Special Forces Operatives Killed By Fulani herdsmen In Niger (ICG) by jpphilips(m): 7:13pm On Feb 19, 2018
Ngokafor:


And the terrorists strikes again..The real terrorists are the fulani herdsmen not IPOB...but since Nigeria is an abnormal country,terrorists tag peaceful organisation as terrorists..what an irony and a ticking time-bomb.

Both are terror groups, no evil is better than the other.

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