Boko Haram recruiting from 5 countries - will this menace ever End?

In the Jihad training camps in Gao in Northern Mali, Boko Haram recruits make up the bulk of the trainees. There are also reports that Boko Haram may be morphing into a regional entity, when one considers that its members are spread across Cameroun, Chad, Niger, and Mali. Boko Haram leaders now boast that they are recruiting from all of the above mentioned countries.

The current upsurge of Boko Haram activities is related to the spread of radical Islamist ideologies in the form of Tablighi clerics from Pakistan and Wahhabist missionaries from Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism, in particular, lends itself to the ideology of Al-Qa’ida and affiliated militant Islamist groups. These doctrines espouse the notion that Nigeria state is taagut, or evil, unworthy of allegiance on the part of a true Muslim and offers Boko Haram members a rationale for targeting policemen, politicians and government officials.

Boko Haram’s target selection has also been influenced by its interaction with militants abroad. The Cameroonian Mamman Nur, who is wanted by Interpol and Federal Bureau of Investigation for masterminding the August 26, 2011, bombing of the United Nations Headquarters, reportedly fled to Chad and travelled to Somalia to receive explosive training from al- Shabab before returning to Nigeria in the weeks before the attacks. Also, in Shekau’s Novermber 29, 2012 video, interaction with Islamist militants has likely caused a shift in Shekau’s messaging, since it now resembles al-Qa’ida. More on Tribune