Boko Haram bid to join IS offers propaganda boost to both

Boko Haram’s bid to forge an alliance with the Islamic State group in sub-Saharan Africa will provide only a propaganda boost for now, but in the long term it could internationalize a conflict restricted to Nigeria for nearly six years, analysts say. The effort comes as both Islamic extremist groups have lost ground in recent weeks and as Nigeria’s neighbors are forming a multinational army to confront Boko Haram. By pledging allegiance to IS, Nigeria’s home-grown militants have severed ties to al-Qaida, which is more powerful in the region, said Charlie Winter, a researcher at the London-based Quilliam Foundation.

The upcoming Nigerian elections and potential postelection upheaval provide too rich of a target environment for the jihadists to pass up.

J. Peter Pham, director of the Washington-based Atlantic Council’s Africa Center

Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, reportedly pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an audio posted Saturday on Twitter. It could take three or four weeks for IS to formally respond, as has been the case with affiliates in Egypt, Yemen and Libya. However, Joining IS would also require major strategy changes by Boko Haram that could cause friction, experts said, explaining that Boko Haram would have to adopt the IS model of an Islamist utopia by providing health care and other social services taken on by IS in its state-building efforts.

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