₦airaland Forum

This is not the first time the Bakura Doro-led faction of Boko Haram and ISWAP engaged in such violent fighting on the islands of Lake Chad Basin.

by Yakubu Mohammed


Two weeks after a failed reconciliation move between Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), popularly known as Boko Haram, and its breakaway faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), both groups have resumed fighting in Abadam Local Government Area of Borno State.

This is not the first time the Bakura Doro-led faction of Boko Haram and ISWAP engaged in such violent fighting on the islands of Lake Chad Basin.

The recent clash, according to Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency expert in the North-east, occurred on 14 February around ISWAP camps in Toumbun Gini and Toumbun Ali.

Mr Makama, in an X post, said ISWAP suffered heavy casualties in the battle that was fought on water. He said the fighting may continue and spread to Kukawa LGA, where Boko Haram fighters continue their campaign against ISWAP.

Both groups have been fighting each other since ISWAP split from Boko Haram in 2016 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Abubakar Shekau, a former idiosyncratic leader of JAS, had, in 2015, pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), making him the leader of ISWAP.

However, ideological differences forced some top members of the group, including Habib Yusuf, the son of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, to fall out with Mr Shekau.

The breakaway faction led by Mr Yusuf, otherwise known as Abu Musab al-Barnawi, went ahead to bear the name ISWAP with its operational bases in the islands and shores of the Lake Chad basin, restricting their brothers-in-arms to places like Sambisa and Mandara Mountain in Gwoza.


The genesis of the infighting

When the groups first split in 2016, the Islamic State tried all it could to reconcile them, but the negotiation failed majorly as a result of Mr Shekau’s ideological stance, especially on who should be regarded as a kufar [apostate] and why they must be executed.

That same year of the schism, the Islamic State officially recognised Mr Yusuf as the leader of ISWAP. This situation forced Mr Shekau and some of his loyalists to revert to his JAS designation.

Subsequently, a clash between ISWAP and Boko Haram led to the death of Mr Shekau, who experts believe killed himself to escape ridicule after his Sambisa hideout was raided on 19 May 2021. This ended Mr Shekau’s 11 years of terror campaign.

As the shadowy Bakura Doro succeeded Mr Shekau, supremacy fights between both groups continued, diminishing their strengths. This is besides strategic military offensives against the groups, although it is believed that these rivalry fights have killed more insurgents than military offensives.


The failed reconciliation

Two weeks earlier, Mr Doro wrote a letter to the ISWAP leadership, seeking reconciliation between both groups, said Malik Samuel, a researcher with a deep understanding of jihadi groups in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region.

PREMIUM TIMES could not get a copy of the letter written by Mr Doro. But Mr Samuel said insiders told him the letter was about reconciliation.

He explained that ISWAP set up a committee to look into the request before the current clash.

A Borno-based journalist who has been reporting on violent extremism in the North-east corroborated Mr Samuel, saying the reconciliation process failed.

“The ongoing clash may not be unconnected with the failed peace deal,” the journalist, who asked not to be named for his safety, said.

Although the ISWAP has always been open for reconciliation with Boko Haram since the death of Mr Shekau, the move has always failed due to differences in beliefs, such as the treatment of civilians who do not believe in jihad.

As the rivalry continues, both groups now resort to guerilla tactical attacks, deploying IEDs of various types to hit their targets. According to experts, this shift in operational pattern shows a significant combat weakness within the groups.

But that does not mean the state actors have won the war. Our correspondent understands that groups, especially ISWAP, intensify their endearing strategies in the local communities they control. Noting that more than 35 million people need support because of the instability in Lake Chad that has claimed thousands of lives, the European Union recently allocated €201 million in humanitarian aid for Sahel and Lake Chad countries.

The renewed clash between the two groups, according to Mr Samuel, is “a win” for the Nigerian authority and other regional governments around the Lake Chad region.

“Had the reconciliation worked out between them, it would have been somewhat devastating to the Nigerian military and other regional forces,” Mr Samuel opined, noting that rivalry clashes between the groups decimate more than the ongoing military operations in the North-east

When asked what could have prompted Boko Haram to write a reconciliation letter to ISWAP, the researcher explained that it may be due to the international recognition that ISWAP enjoys.

“It is not because of economic or funding issues,” he explained. “Boko Haram since before the death of Shekau has its funding model. They thrive on taxation of local fishers, herders and farmers.”

According to him, Boko Haram might be envious of last year’s scenario when Islamic State sent foreign instructors to train ISWAP fighters, including minors, in December.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/774719-boko-haram-iswap-resume-fighting-after-failed-reconciliation-move.html

They should reconcile their differences and face the real enemies.

Nice one... Let them keep on killing themselves

Tranquillity360:
They should reconcile their differences and face the real enemies.

Go and reconcile them na. Mugu.

Good! Enemy of God's children will never know let alone have peace. After all they are all blood shedders and killers. More of the self annihilation.

Elrufai Boys at war again ...

USAID funding is gone for good..let's see how long they can sustain the fight

E remain IPOB and ESN to join...










Igbo amaka 😂

COMRADES, Nigeria is yet to get an active government which will wipe out these motherfvckers from the country or from the surface of the earth. Enough of this rubbish abeg

Hmmm
Has Shetima spoken?

TUANKU:
Go and reconcile them na. Mugu.

You own na to dey abuse your forefathers in this forum! I wonder if you get papa and mama because you always sounds like mbe and bastæd!

So, both iswap and boko boys camps are known and nothing has happened.
Las Las Nigeria is a zoo.

Our dss suppose get an insider who go dey make them fight each other and at the same time giving the military necessary int on where and how to attack them.

But this isn't Hollywood, more also this is Nigeria that is not really serious about over coming terrorist

Good

No more dollars from any foreign government

This is the best way to get rid of terrorist

Abubakar Shekau that couldn't be killed then by the military was eliminated by a rival terrorist group

Prestige112:
They will be annihilated very soon but for now they should be annihilating themselves

The Northerners brought them to Nigeria and they should resolved it!
Since when OBJ was trying to eliminate them in his Era by killing their leader ( Yesufu),some people in many Northern States then,were playing the Ostrich treating it- As Religion,by continues 'Rankadede '!
So, who is Funding them and how did they get their Weapons of destruction they are using against Nigeria ?
•May God save Nigeria but this is Self -Inflicted- Problems -by those who brought it in from Sudan or Afghanistan and those who thinks they are brothers but Boko Haram is an enemy - to All NIGERIANS - the earlier you know it,the better!

This one be like small children war start games

Bluntemperor:
The Northerners brought them to Nigeria and they should resolved it!
Since when OBJ was trying to eliminate them in his Era by killing their leader ( Yesufu),some people in many Northern States then,were playing the Ostrich treating it- As Religion,by continues 'Rankadede '!
So, who is Funding them and how did they get their Weapons of destruction they are using against Nigeria ?
•May God save Nigeria but this is Self -Inflicted- Problems -by those who brought it in from Sudan or Afghanistan and those who thinks they are brothers but Boko Haram is an enemy - to All NIGERIANS - the earlier you know it,the better!

oga it was yaradua that killed yussuf not OBJ.. Half knowledge is very dangerous

Tranquillity360:
They should reconcile their differences and face the real enemies.

🤦

Tranquillity360:
They should reconcile their differences and face the real enemies.

Please are you one of them or do you have sympathy on.them?

After they die, that's when they'll know the truth hidden from them.

Tranquillity360:
They should reconcile their differences and face the real enemies.

Are you okay... Or are a sympathizer of insurgency

Ahan

This country is in the hands of Creators. If USAID was alleged to finance Boko Haram. Who is sponsoring ISWAP.

Tranquillity360:
They should reconcile their differences and face the real enemies.

Are you ready to spill your blood to atone for their differences

Let them continue….its a family affair

Islie:
This is not the first time the Bakura Doro-led faction of Boko Haram and ISWAP engaged in such violent fighting on the islands of Lake Chad Basin.




https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/774719-boko-haram-iswap-resume-fighting-after-failed-reconciliation-move.html

More power to their elbows, so they can finish themselves.

That would be less worry for our army.

DuttyChuks:
You own na to dey abuse your forefathers in this forum! I wonder if you get papa and mama because you always sounds like mbe and bastæd!

goan read ur comment again.

What is the Nigeria military waiting for. Smoke them.

If the government can't clear them all, here's to hoping infighting eventually does them in.