Nigeria’s Boko
Haram Islamic extremists have a new leader who is threatening to bomb churches
and kill Christians while ending attacks on mosques and markets used by
ordinary Muslims, according to an interview published Wednesday by the Islamic
State group.
He also says there
is a Western plot to Christianize the region and has accused charities of using
their aid for that, according to a SITE Intelligence Group translation of an
interview published Wednesday in the Islamic State newspaper al-Nabaa.
The newspaper
identified Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new “Wali,” or governor, of its
so-called West Africa Province. The “Wali” title was previously used to
describe long-time Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.
The report did not
say what Shekau’s current status was, although there have been rumors for weeks
that he had been replaced.
The interview with
al-Barnawi indicates a major shift in strategy for the Nigerian extremists, who
have killed many more Muslims than Christians in attacks in mosques with
suicide bombers and gunmen.
There have also
been attacks on crowded marketplaces in predominantly Muslim areas and the
killings and kidnappings of schoolchildren. The targeting of students accounts
for its nickname Boko Haram, which means Western education is sinful or
forbidden.
“They strongly seek
to Christianize the society. … They exploit the condition of those who are
displaced under the raging war, providing them with food and shelter and then
Christianizing their children,” SITE Intelligence quotes the new leader as
saying.
Al-Barnawi says the
militants will respond to that threat by “booby-trapping and blowing up every
church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those (Christians) who we
find from the citizens of the cross.”
Wednesday’s
announcement indicates a coup by Boko Haram breakaway group Ansaru against
Shekau, and follows a trend of extremist Islamic groups moving away from
al-Qaida to the Islamic State, analyst Jacob Zenn said.
Ansaru broke away
from Boko Haram because it disagrees with the indiscriminate killing of
civilians, especially Muslims.
Al-Barnawi is the
pseudonym of a Nigerian journalist allied with Ansaru, which is known for
kidnapping foreigners, according to Zenn.
In March 2015,
Shekau switched allegiance from al-Qaida and declared that Boko Haram be known
as the Islamic State’s West Africa Province. At the time, Boko Haram was the
most powerful military force in northeast Nigeria, controlling a huge area and
was better equipped and motivated than Nigerian forces.
Under Shekau, the
seven-year insurgency spread to neighboring countries, killed more than 20,000
people and drove more than 2.2 million from their homes, and created what aid
workers are calling a catastrophic humanitarian emergency with children dying
of starvation daily.
Boko Haram last
week ambushed a humanitarian convoy, killing three civilians including a U.N.
employee and causing the suspension of U.N. aid to newly liberated but still
dangerous areas of Nigeria’s northeast.
Since last year,
Nigeria has a new leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military
dictator who has better armed and motivated security forces. He is also
fighting corruption that diverted $2.1 billion that was meant to buy weapons to
fight the Islamic uprising, and is cooperating with a multinational force that
has the extremists on the run.
In the interview,
al-Barnawi said that under his leadership the militants will work to seize back
territory. He said that increasing numbers of youth are joining the cause,
though Nigeria’s military reports that hundreds of its fighters have
surrendered as aerial bombardments and ground assaults cut supply routes.
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