- The jihadists, who have been operating in Africa’s Sahel region, followed the trend of militants migrating to wealthy West African coastal countries and settled in northwestern Nigeria after crossing from neighboring Benin.
- The Sahel is known as a global hotspot for violent extremism. The security crisis in the region is worsening as a military coup ousts democratic governments. As the junta struggles to contain violence, they have increasingly severed security ties with traditional partners France and the United States and turned to Russia for support.
- Extremists have settled in Nigeria’s Lake Kainji National Park, one of West Africa’s rapidly declining lion populations, causing concern among conservationists due to poor patrolling of the area.
Jihadists who have long operated in Africa’s restive Sahel region have settled in northwest Nigeria after crossing from neighboring Benin, a report said on Wednesday, the latest trend in a movement of militants into the wealthy West African coastal nation.
Extremists believed to be linked to Al Qaeda crossed the border from Benin’s hard-hit northern region last year and settled in Lake Kainji National Park, one of Nigeria’s largest national parks, and other armed groups have also entered the park, reports said. The Ringendaal Institute think tank has conducted extensive research in the Sahel.
Residents near the park told The Associated Press that the facility, part of a rapidly declining lion population in West Africa, has been closed for more than a year due to security threats from armed groups attacking neighboring villages and roads.
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“Before, it was like a tourist center, but now, people find it difficult to get through there,” said John Yerima, who lives near the park in New Busa Town. “You can’t access that road (to the park) right now. It’s dangerous, really.”
One of the authors, Kars de Bruijne, said the security situation in the 2,000-square-mile park in Niger state and the nearby border with Benin was “spinning out of control” and that “the situation was more explosive than we expected.” .
The “continued presence” of armed groups in the park is the first sign of links between homegrown extremists in Nigeria and al-Qaida-linked militants from the Sahel, arid southern regions. The region has been waging a decade-long insurgency.
In February 2023, rangers patrolled Lake Kainji National Park in Niger State, Nigeria. Later settled in northwestern Nigeria. (Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Associated Press)
He added that their presence provides extremists with the opportunity to achieve mass success in both countries, which have suffered deadly attacks in recent years.
The worsening security crisis in the Sahel region, known as a global hotspot for violent extremism, comes as military coups are toppling democratic governments. As the junta struggles to contain violence, they have increasingly severed security ties with traditional partners France and the United States and turned to Russia for support.
In northwestern Nigeria, security analysts have warned in the past that the remote region’s largely absent government but rich mineral resources and high levels of poverty provide opportunities for expansion for jihadist groups operating primarily in the Sahel. as well as the Islamic State group, whose fighters dominate the Lake Chad basin.
“The connection between Lake Chad and the Sahel is a major opportunity for al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to brag about their role as leaders of global jihad,” the report said.
Conservationists are also concerned that the presence of armed groups in the park could further threaten remaining lions whose numbers have been reduced by poaching and climate change. They say the park and most protected wildlife areas in Nigeria are poorly patrolled and are easy targets for armed groups.
“When it comes to concerns about lion populations in Nigeria, the security situation has become the number one concern,” said Stella Egbe, senior conservation manager at the Nigeria Conservation Foundation.
Nigeria’s military regularly conducts aerial bombardments and deploys personnel to criminal hideouts in the conflict-torn north. However, security forces, exhausted by a decade-long war in the northeast, remain outnumbered and outgunned in these remote villages, and root causes of conflict such as poverty remain.
Klingendaal reported that it was unclear what the motivations of the Sahelian extremists in the park were, or their relationship to other armed groups in the park. Security analysts say it provides opportunities for logistics to exert greater influence amid a boom in cross-border illicit trade.
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“Sahelian jihadists may try to use northwest Nigeria as a place for fundraising and logistics and try to influence jihadist groups there as part of their own competition,” said James, a researcher at the Hudson Institute who works in the northwest. Barnett said.
Barnett said banditry – not jihadist fighters – remained the main security threat in many villages in northwestern Nigeria.
The gangs have carried out attacks with the jihadists as two separate groups on multiple occasions in the past. But he said even rare cooperation could have “very deadly consequences”.
