Northeastern Nigeria under pressure from Boko Haram jihadist groups

Nigerian soldiers at a checkpoint in 2015 (illustrative image).

© Lekan Oyekanmi / AP

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

For the past ten days, Iswap, the Boko Haram faction affiliated with the Islamic State, has been stepping up attacks against several localities in Borno and Yobe states.

These attacks greatly disrupt the daily lives of populations on both sides of the border with Niger.

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According to several sources, armed groups primarily target symbols of the state and security forces.

Thus, in Maïné-Soroa, these groups, suspected of being

members of Iswap

, the West African branch of the Islamic State, attacked gendarmerie, police and customs posts, then seized weapons. and material.

Demonstrations of force that drive people away to rural communities across the border.

In the Nigerien region of Diffa, influxes of refugees are frequent, explains a local official, helpless in the face of these regular arrivals.

Displaced people, sometimes stigmatized by their hosts.

The Boko Haram are based among the displaced and are accused of then giving information to their fighters, explains an observer.

These flows of people take place in precarious conditions, as Jean-Sébastien Josset, UNHCR spokesperson in Niger, explains: “ 

Often, they flee, taking almost nothing with them. They arrive in difficult conditions and above all in a very tense security context, which does not allow immediate humanitarian access.

 "

Since Friday, the Nigerian town of Geidam has been besieged by suspected jihadists from Iswap.

A situation that causes a lot of difficulties, especially since this city close to the border also acts as a commercial crossroads.

Fruits, vegetables and cereals are exchanged there, which feed the agro-pastoral activities of producers in the Diffa region.

Prices have already started to soar, regrets a resident, who fears the paralysis of economic activities.

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  • Nigeria

  • Niger

  • Boko Haram

  • EI

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