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1 1 (March 26, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govecuw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service 0 Updated March 26, 2021 Boko Haram and the Islamic State's West Africa Province Since 2009, an Islamist insurgency based in northeastern Nigeria has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered a massive humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger (see Figure 1). Founded in the early 2000s as a Salafist Sunni Muslim reform movement, Boko Haram, which roughly translates to Western culture is forbidden, has evolved into one of the world's deadliest Islamist armed groups. Since 2016, an Islamic State (IS)-affiliated splinter faction, the Islamic State's West Africa Province (IS-WA, aka ISIS-WA or ISWAP) has surpassed Boko Haram in size and capacity, and now ranks among IS's most active affiliates. Boko Haram and IS-WA have proven resilient despite military pressure. Regional governments have periodically reasserted control over contested territory and killed or detained scores of alleged militants, yet security gains often have been short-lived. Human rights groups also have documented extensive human rights violations by regional militaries. The United States has provided counterterrorism and other security assistance to governments in the region and obligated more than $2.3 billion for the Lake Chad Basin humanitarian response since 2015. As of mid-2020, nearly 13 million people required some form of aid in the Lake Chad Basin region, and over three million people were displaced, according to U.N. estimates. Background and Leadership Boko Haram originated in northeast Nigeria, in an area long afflicted by poverty and economic inequality, corrupt and contentious politics, and fierce intra-communal debate over the proper role of Islam in governance and social life. Its founder, Muhammad Yusuf, preached an especially militant interpretation of Sunni Islam, rejecting Western education and influence as well as more moderate Islamic practices. The group launched an armed uprising in several northern cities in 2009. In response, state security forces executed Yusuf and killed hundreds of his adherents. Boko Haram regrouped under Yusuf's deputy, Abubakar Shekau, expanding its operations from suicide bombings and other targeted attacks to larger raids and assertions of territorial control. The group gained notoriety for its brutal tactics, including the use of women and children as suicide bombers, and drew global attention with its 2014 abduction of 276 girls from a school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria. In 2015, Shekau pledged loyalty to the Islamic State, and Boko Haram rebranded as IS-WA. An ensuing leadership dispute fractured the group; core IS leadership recognized another IS-WA leader, and Shekau's faction reassumed the group's original name. Shekau remains Boko Haram's leader, while IS-WA has undergone a series of leadership changes. A third, smaller faction that operates near Lake Chad has reportedly allied with Shekau. Overlapping areas of operation can complicate the attribution of attacks. Figure I. The Lake Chad Basin Region Source: CRS graphic. Operations and Presence IS-WA. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) publicly estimated that IS-WA had between 3,500 and 5,000 fighters, primarily operating in northeast Nigeria near Lake Chad and in border zones of Niger and Cameroon. IS- WA initially distanced itself from the indiscriminate violence associated with Boko Haram, renouncing the killing of Muslim civilians and pledging to focus attacks on state targets and Christians. It reportedly has provided basic services and law enforcement in areas under its control, potentially building ties with some communities-though it also has attacked humanitarian personnel and imposed taxes on local trade and agriculture, sometimes in exchange for protection and other services. Moreover, IS-WA recently claimed several mass-casualty attacks on Muslim civilians, which some observers attribute to a leadership change in February 2020 favoring more hardline commanders. The extent of IS-WA's ties with IS global leadership, and with other IS affiliates, is debated. Core IS reportedly has provided financial and technical support to the group, but IS-WA appears to remain operationally independent and focused on local objectives. According to U.N. sanctions investigators, IS-WA maintains a logistical relationship with the Islamic State-Greater Sahara (IS-GS), based in West Africa's Sahel region; global IS media recently have sought to portray IS-GS as part of or subordinate to IS-WA. Boko Haram. With some 1,500-2,000 fighters, according to a DOD estimate published in 2020, Boko Haram operates primarily in northeast Nigeria and northern Cameroon. Annual fatalities attributed to Boko Haram have fallen from a 2014 peak of roughly 4,500 to less than 1,000 in 2020, per Council on Foreign Relations figures. Nonetheless, the group remains capable of overrunning military bases, staging attacks in urban areas, raiding villages, and taxing local commerce. Some experts contend that Boko Haram is seeking to expand into northwest Nigeria by forming ties with local jihadists and criminal actors in that area, though the extent and implications of such efforts remain uncertain. )s://crsreports.conqress.

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