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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Boko Haram Internally Fractured Over ISIS Ties, U.S. General Says |
| 2016-06-24 |
| [Haaretz] Nigerian ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... have fractured internally, with a big group splitting away from shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from ISIS, a senior U.S. general said on Tuesday. Marine Lieutenant General Thomas Waldhauser, the nominee to lead the U.S. military's Africa Command, suggested the internal division was illustrative of limits of ISIS' influence over Boko Haram so far, despite the West African group's pledge of allegiance to it last year. "Several months ago, about half of Boko Haram broke off to a separate group because they were not happy with the amount of buy-in, if you will, from Boko Haram into the ISIS brand," Waldhauser said at his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Shekau, he said, had not fallen into line with ISIS instructions, including by ignoring calls for Boko Haram to stop using children as jacket wallahs. "He's been told by ISIS to stop doing that. But he has not done so. And that's one of the reasons why this splinter group has broken off," he said, adding that ISIS was trying to "reconcile those two groups." Rooters reported on June 9 that U.S. officials had seen no evidence that Boko Haram has so far received significant operational support or financing from ISIS. The assessment suggested Boko Haram's loyalty pledge had so far mostly been a branding exercise. |
| Posted by:Fred |