Sanctuaries in North-East Nigeria – The “safe havens/sanctuaries” issue is relevant in many counterinsurgency/counterterrorism cases. The Taliban in North-West Pakistan, the FARC in the so called zona de despeje in mid-southern Colombia and Salvadorian militias in the mountainous region close to Honduras are just few examples. Boko Haram succeeded in taking territorial control over Borno federal state in North-East Nigeria, made it their safe heaven and started moving west: Yobe and most of Adamawa state fell under their control, while other neighbouring states have been targeted in many raids.
Boko Haram continues its terror campaign aiming to the creation of an Islamic state. As we stated in a previous analysis, the possibility of a new entity within Nigerian border has been the focus of debating in within the intelligence community. Like Al-Baghdadi’s Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, this would be the final stage of an evolutionary process. Recent attacks, including those happened in Baga on January 3 and 7, seem to support such idea.
The attack on the satiric French journal Charlie Hebdo demonstrates that France and Europe are vulnerable. The shock caused by this attack comes together with the realization of the fact that our Continent is not the “safe heaven” we may have thought and hoped it to be.
