The renewed method
of attack of Boko-haram has shown that this group has not been technically
defeated as claimed by minister of information - Lai Mohamed. Recently, a young female suicide bomber was in military
custody on Thursday in Nigeria after she aborted a plan to detonate explosives
when two other girls blew themselves up and killed more than 80 people.
The double suicide attack – which also wounded nearly 90 others – targeted a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) on Tuesday in northeast Nigeria.
The double suicide attack – which also wounded nearly 90 others – targeted a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) on Tuesday in northeast Nigeria.
The detained girl
told authorities she thought her parents might be in the camp and decided
against the attack.
The bombings
occurred in the town of Dikwa, some 80km northeast of Maiduguri, the birthplace
of the armed Boko Haram group, which is fighting to create an Islamic state in
the country’s northeast.
Al
Jazeera spoke with former United State (US) ambassador to Nigeria Robin Sanders
about Boko Haram’s changing strategy as Nigeria’s military pushes the group out
of areas it once controlled.
Al
Jazeera: Are we seeing a resurgence of violent attacks by Boko Haram?
Sanders: I think what we’re seeing is a difference in tactics. Boko Haram learns very quickly. They have moved a little bit from asymmetrical warfare, which the government was actually successfully trying to hinder in December, early January, to these guerrilla attacks that you see happening now – very similar in style to what Al Shabab is doing in East Africa.
Sanders: I think what we’re seeing is a difference in tactics. Boko Haram learns very quickly. They have moved a little bit from asymmetrical warfare, which the government was actually successfully trying to hinder in December, early January, to these guerrilla attacks that you see happening now – very similar in style to what Al Shabab is doing in East Africa.
So
you do see this transition taking place and I think that the Nigerian army is
going to have to adapt.
One
other thing to add to the list of attacks is that there was also an attack in
Zamfara, which is on the other side of the country. And it worries me that, possibly,
Boko Haram is looking at doing two-front attacks in Nigeria – one in the west
and one in the east.
Nigerian
refugee camp hit by twin suicide bombings
Al Jazeera: Has the group lost any strength since the renewed international effort against it?
Al Jazeera: Has the group lost any strength since the renewed international effort against it?
Sanders:
I think that there is a couple of things that donors as well as Nigeria probably
need to think about – it is really more long-term strategic planning.
Groups
like Boko Haram and al-Shabab and others; they have long-range planning. You
even see that with ISIL. And certainly the connection now that Boko Haram has
with ISIL is something to be concerned about.
Because
my understanding from my sources is that the leadership of Boko Haram now – at
least in terms of tactical efforts – is really being driven by its connection
with ISIL, and some of that information is coming through contacts with those
in Libya, those in Tanzania.
And
even as far away as Al Shabab in terms of how they do things a little bit
differently – moving from this asymmetrical framework to more guerrilla tactics
where they are not holding on to territory but they are still terrorizing
individuals.
Al Jazeera:
What does the government have to do now to fight them with their renewed
tactics?
Sanders:
The main thing that I think has not happened is that the multinational joint
taskforce that was supposed to be stood up toward the end of last year – it was
announced in July 2015 and it has yet to be stood up.
It’s
supposed to have about 8,700 forces. At the last AU summit that happened a couple weeks ago – of
the $700M that was pledged to the multi-national force, only $250M has been
received, mostly from Nigeria and from France.
So,
financially they do not have the money to stand up the force and if they had
the force they could better share intelligence, they could better plan for
long-term.
And
when I say long-term planning I am talking about two or three years, not
something that is just six months out because groups like Boko Haram have very
long-term strategic planning – and the response has to be the same. Therefore,
Hoko-Haram has strong presence in North East.