ABUJA, Nigeria: Extremist fighters who had long operated in Africa’s volatile Sahel region have settled in northwestern Nigeria after crossing from neighboring Benin, a report said Wednesday, the latest trend in the militants’ movements to wealthier West African coastal nations.
The extremists believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda have in the last year crossed over from Benin’s hard-hit northern region and settled in Kainji Lake National Park, one of Nigeria’s largest, where other armed groups have also gained access, according to the report by the Clingendael Institute think tank, which has done extensive research in the Sahel.
Residents close to the park told The Associated Press that the facility, which holds one of West Africa’s fast-declining lion populations, has been closed for more than a year because of security threats from armed groups attacking neighboring villages and roads.
“Before, it was like a tourism center (but) now, people find it difficult to pass through there,” said John Yerima, who lives near the park in New Bussa town. “You cannot enter that road (leading to the park) now. It is dangerous seriously.”
The security situation at the 5,300-square kilometer (2,000-square mile) park in Niger state and along the nearby border with Benin is “getting out of hand” and is “a much more explosive situation than we had anticipated,” said Kars de Bruijne, one of the authors of the report and a senior research fellow at the institute.
The “sustained presence” of the armed groups in the park is the first sign of a connection between Nigeria’s homegrown extremists that have launched a decadelong insurgency in its northern region, and Al-Qaeda-linked militants from the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert, Bruijne said.
Their presence offers an opportunity for the extremists to claim large-scale success in both countries, already wracked by deadly attacks in recent years, he added.
Known as a global hot spot for violent extremism, the Sahel region’s worsening security crisis comes as military coups are toppling democratic governments. As the military governments struggle to contain the violence, they are increasingly severing security with traditional partners France and the United States and turning to Russia for support.
In northwest Nigeria, security analysts have in the past warned that the region’s remote territories, where the government is largely absent but have rich mineral resources and high poverty levels, present an opportunity for expansion for extremist groups that had operated mainly in the Sahel, as well as the Daesh group, whose fighters hold sway in the Lake Chad basin.
“A link between Lake Chad and the Sahel is a major opportunity for Al-Qaeda and Daesh to boast about their profiles as leaders of global extremism,” the report said.
There are also concerns from conservationists that the presence of armed groups in the park could further threaten the remaining lions whose populations have declined as a result of climate change and poaching.
“The security situation has become top of the list when it comes to the concerns about the lion populations in Nigeria,” said Stella Egbe, senior conservation manager at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation.
The Clingendael report said it is unclear what the motive of the Sahel extremists in the park is and what their relationship with other armed groups there will be. Security analysts say it offers opportunities for logistics and more influence amid booming illegal trade across the porous border.
“The Sahelian extremists potentially can try to use northwestern Nigeria as a place for fundraising, for logistics and to try to influence the extremist groups there as part of their own competition,” said James Barnett, a fellow at the Hudson Institute whose works in northwestern Nigeria were cited in the report.
Across many villages in Nigeria’s northwest, banditry — not extremist fighters — remains the major security threat, Barnett said.
The bandits have on a few occasions in the past collaborated with extremist fighters as two separate groups in carrying out attacks. But even in rare collaborations, he said, there can be “very deadly consequences.”
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Extremists from Africa’s Sahel cross into Nigeria’s north
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Extremists from Africa’s Sahel cross into Nigeria’s north
- Extremists believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda have in the last year crossed over from Benin’s hard-hit northern region and settled in Kainji Lake National Park
- Clingendael Institute report: ‘A link between Lake Chad and the Sahel is a major opportunity for Al-Qaeda and Daesh to boast about their profiles as leaders of global extremism’
Boys recount ‘torment’ at hands of armed rebels in DR Congo
BUNIA: Forcibly recruited into a rebel militia affiliated with the Daesh group, two boys revealed the “torment” of living in its camps as members committed massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeast.
The two minors freed from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) gave AFP an unprecedented account of the shadowy group, notorious for its extreme brutality.
Paluku, a frail 12-year-old, spent two months with the ADF after rebels killed his mother during an attack on his village in eastern North Kivu province. His brother and sister were also captured.
Edouard, 17, spent a gruelling four years with the ADF — formed by Ugandan rebels who took refuge in DRC — after he was kidnapped at age 12.
The two boys, using pseudonyms, spoke on condition of anonymity at a center specializing in the care of minors recruited by armed groups in the region, whose location AFP has chosen not to disclose to avoid potential reprisals.
Their accounts were confirmed by health and security sources.
Round-faced Edouard, a fast-talker, did not mince his words in describing his years of “torment” within the ADF.
“We suffered terribly,” he said.
After their capture, Edouard and Paluku were sent to ADF bases hidden in the dense forest of northeast DRC where the elusive rebels avoid patrols by the Congolese army and Ugandan forces deployed there since 2021.
The bases consist of simple tents and tarps, easy to move in the event of an attack.
Most occupants are women and children, according to security sources, contributing to the group’s operations — but also serving as human shields.
New recruits are swiftly forced to convert to Islam and learn Arabic, but also English and Swahili, Edouard said.
“I was also trained in medicine to treat the wounded, and we learned how to handle weapons and clean them,” he said.
Paluku said he underwent similar training, as well as learning how to “steal food, clothing and medicine to bring back to the ADF camp.”
- Floggings -
Children play a central role in supplying the group, security sources said. Those who fail to bring back loot face severe punishment.
The wives of the ADF commanders, some of whom are particularly influential, also exercise power over the young recruits.
When the fighters go out on “operations,” the youngest among them like Paluku, were “supposed to bring something back for the chief’s wife,” he said, like soap, cooking oil or fabric.
“To get it we have to loot people’s belongings, and if a chief’s wife accuses you to her husband of not bringing back what she asked for, she can demand that you be killed,” he said.
Edouard and Paluku said they were subjected to incessant corporal punishment.
Girls and boys were whipped or thrown into pits for several weeks over the slightest misbehavior.
“I was punished with lashes because I refused to go kill people,” Paluku said with a long stare.
Edouard took part in combat with the group at least three times against the Congolese army or local militias.
“They beat us mostly when we lost our weapons and ammunition, claiming we had wasted them for nothing or lost them on the front,” he explained.
Faced with such an accusation, Edouard said a chief ordered that he be whipped.
“I fell ill because of those lashes. I told the chief outright I was no longer able to go fight on the front, I begged him to send others who were capable, but that made him even more angry, and I was whipped once again,” he said.
- Trauma -
About 10 children freed from the ADF arrive on average each month at the reception center in the troubled northeast Ituri province.
“These children have suffered psychological trauma and torture, and when they arrive here, most are aggressive,” said Madeleine, a psychologist at the center.
After a few weeks spent around other children and staff, their aggression fades, she said.
But there are other scars to contend with.
Edouard became addicted to drugs administered by the rebels after he was wounded in combat.
Suffering from speech disorders, he talks constantly and sometimes incoherently, disturbing other residents, Madeleine said.
After a year at the center receiving ongoing treatment, Edouard recounted the horrors of his experience with a shy smile and a lively, excitable gaze.
Paluku meanwhile had a darker expression, recalling his sister who remains a hostage.
“She has become the wife of one of the ADF chiefs,” he said.
The two minors freed from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) gave AFP an unprecedented account of the shadowy group, notorious for its extreme brutality.
Paluku, a frail 12-year-old, spent two months with the ADF after rebels killed his mother during an attack on his village in eastern North Kivu province. His brother and sister were also captured.
Edouard, 17, spent a gruelling four years with the ADF — formed by Ugandan rebels who took refuge in DRC — after he was kidnapped at age 12.
The two boys, using pseudonyms, spoke on condition of anonymity at a center specializing in the care of minors recruited by armed groups in the region, whose location AFP has chosen not to disclose to avoid potential reprisals.
Their accounts were confirmed by health and security sources.
Round-faced Edouard, a fast-talker, did not mince his words in describing his years of “torment” within the ADF.
“We suffered terribly,” he said.
After their capture, Edouard and Paluku were sent to ADF bases hidden in the dense forest of northeast DRC where the elusive rebels avoid patrols by the Congolese army and Ugandan forces deployed there since 2021.
The bases consist of simple tents and tarps, easy to move in the event of an attack.
Most occupants are women and children, according to security sources, contributing to the group’s operations — but also serving as human shields.
New recruits are swiftly forced to convert to Islam and learn Arabic, but also English and Swahili, Edouard said.
“I was also trained in medicine to treat the wounded, and we learned how to handle weapons and clean them,” he said.
Paluku said he underwent similar training, as well as learning how to “steal food, clothing and medicine to bring back to the ADF camp.”
- Floggings -
Children play a central role in supplying the group, security sources said. Those who fail to bring back loot face severe punishment.
The wives of the ADF commanders, some of whom are particularly influential, also exercise power over the young recruits.
When the fighters go out on “operations,” the youngest among them like Paluku, were “supposed to bring something back for the chief’s wife,” he said, like soap, cooking oil or fabric.
“To get it we have to loot people’s belongings, and if a chief’s wife accuses you to her husband of not bringing back what she asked for, she can demand that you be killed,” he said.
Edouard and Paluku said they were subjected to incessant corporal punishment.
Girls and boys were whipped or thrown into pits for several weeks over the slightest misbehavior.
“I was punished with lashes because I refused to go kill people,” Paluku said with a long stare.
Edouard took part in combat with the group at least three times against the Congolese army or local militias.
“They beat us mostly when we lost our weapons and ammunition, claiming we had wasted them for nothing or lost them on the front,” he explained.
Faced with such an accusation, Edouard said a chief ordered that he be whipped.
“I fell ill because of those lashes. I told the chief outright I was no longer able to go fight on the front, I begged him to send others who were capable, but that made him even more angry, and I was whipped once again,” he said.
- Trauma -
About 10 children freed from the ADF arrive on average each month at the reception center in the troubled northeast Ituri province.
“These children have suffered psychological trauma and torture, and when they arrive here, most are aggressive,” said Madeleine, a psychologist at the center.
After a few weeks spent around other children and staff, their aggression fades, she said.
But there are other scars to contend with.
Edouard became addicted to drugs administered by the rebels after he was wounded in combat.
Suffering from speech disorders, he talks constantly and sometimes incoherently, disturbing other residents, Madeleine said.
After a year at the center receiving ongoing treatment, Edouard recounted the horrors of his experience with a shy smile and a lively, excitable gaze.
Paluku meanwhile had a darker expression, recalling his sister who remains a hostage.
“She has become the wife of one of the ADF chiefs,” he said.
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