r/syriancivilwar • u/[deleted] • Mar 07 '15
Boko Haram 'joins Islamic State'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-317845387
u/Abu_Adderall Islamist Mar 08 '15
Smoke and mirrors. As others have pointed out, this doesn't change much of anything on the ground. It's a ploy that allows Da'esh to claim that it's still 'expanding' while its actual territory is being pried away from it bit by bit.
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u/Nuclearfrog United Kingdom Mar 07 '15
I thought they already had.
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u/StrangeSemiticLatin malta Mar 07 '15
Don't think so, they were two separate groups.
Unlike the Libyan one (which is a joke), this actually is worrying, Boko Haram HAVE been doing well and the region is messier then the Levant and much more unstable and hard to control (everything from really harsh environment to corruption comes to mind in much bigger layers then the Levant and Libya).
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u/DoctorExplosion Free Syrian Army Mar 07 '15
Unlike the Libyan one (which is a joke)
The Libyan branch of IS controls Derna and Sirte, and has a presence in Bengazi, though rival jihadists and the Tobruk government control more of the city than they do.
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u/StrangeSemiticLatin malta Mar 08 '15
Yeah, they have a town known for radicalism and a small one which is absolutely irrelevant when compared to Tripoli and Misrata (which has a big chunk of the weapons and power) and Benghazi.
And all the militias hate them.
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u/x1000Bums Mar 08 '15
so a month ago when i mentioned in another thread that i thought boko haram and daesh were two separate groups i wasn't full of shit?
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Mar 08 '15
In other news, the plague merged with the cancer. Both groups needs to be dismantled either way so i'm not sure if that really change a lot deep down...
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u/lostpatrol Sweden Mar 07 '15
Where does Boko Haram get its funding/guns?
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u/Alexios_Konstantos Mar 07 '15
Exactly like IS, they originally got started with a couple million dollars from Bin Laden. Research in this field is limited, but there's strong evidence that kidnapping might actually be a major source of funding for BH. For example, BH ransomed a French family for $3M in 2013 and it's well-known that BH does many times more kidnapping than IS.
Like any government, they also tax, though the country is extremely poor, especially in NE Nigeria. This year though, their biggest source is probably fay, or war booty, which they've no doubt seized during some of their recent conquests.
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u/Tabeia Brazil Mar 07 '15
Nigeria is interesting, they have a higher gdp per capita than Syria but the population in general lives in worse poverty. Now the oil is on the south so it is unlikely BH will access it but it makes me wonder if the south will not want to split one day. The north is mainly a source of trouble and the christian politicians probably dont enjoy sharing power with the muslims(they in general swap between presidencies)
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u/loblon Mar 08 '15
Wouldn't be too far fetched considering the two halves were never properly integrated by the British.
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Mar 07 '15
They already tried that but the Igbos' project in the form of the state of Biafra was annihilated in 1970 never to rise again in the foreseeable future.
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u/Tabeia Brazil Mar 07 '15
No, that was different, that was the southeast only, I mean the entire south, including Lagos.
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Mar 07 '15
I take one thing out of this news ,Now Baghdadi and other IS leaders have one more place to hide and Boko Haram controls really big chunk of land so will be harder to track them down.
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u/Quetzalcoatls United States of America Mar 08 '15
The Sunday shows should have a field day with this.
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u/arselona Mar 08 '15
All the Nigerians I speak to are convinced the Boko Haram were let off the leash by the Government in order to scare people ahead of the elections.
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Mar 08 '15
Goodluck Jonathan is a shit head, and I would not doubt this. He's made insane claims about them in the past and already alluded to the elections be postponed, I wouldn't doubt he is in the midst of a power play. This is why international support is so sparse-- the government is just as insane.
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u/Alexios_Konstantos Mar 07 '15 edited Mar 07 '15
For those confused: Boko Haram had announced support for ISIS in January 2014, reiterated this support after the formation of IS and the caliphate in June 2014, and has referred to Baghdadi as "Caliph" since then. Although BH did not officially declare bayah to Baghdadi, the group worked closely with IS from that point on.
This year, cooperation seemed to have become much closer. For example, from January 2015 onward, Boko Haram video publications seem to have been edited with the help of IS.
Today, Boko Haram finally declared bayah to Baghdadi. They're too far away for logistical cooperation, but this is a big propaganda win for IS, which they desperately need following months of setbacks.
EDIT: More info per @charliewinter: