ALLIES OF ISIS WHO ARE QUIETLY BUILDING THEIR CONTROL OVER WESTERN AFRICA

▶ Breakaway group of Boko Haram is becoming entrenched in Lake Chad area and a dominant force, say sources

The West African ally of ISIS is on a mission to win over the people of north-east Nigeria and Niger, digging wells, giving out seeds and fertiliser and providing safe pasture for herders.

Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) split from Boko Haram in Nigeria in 2016.

“If you are a herder, driver or trader, they won’t touch you,” said a herder, who moves cattle in and out of the group’s territory. “Just follow their rules and regulations governing the territory. They don’t touch civilians, just security personnel.”

The campaign, which has created an economy for ISWA to tax, is part of the armed group’s push to establish an administration in the Lake Chad area.

A map produced by the US Agency for International Development in February shows that ISWA territory now extends more than 150 kilometres into the north-eastern Nigerian states of Borno and Yobe, where the government presence has all but vanished following a decade of conflict.

Nigeria claims ISWA has been defeated but researchers say the group has become a dominant presence, over the more-extreme Boko Haram.

“Islamic State has a terrible reputation for being so brutal around the world and people can’t imagine an Islamic State faction could be more moderate than Boko Haram,” said Jacob Zenn, of The Jamestown Foundation in Washington.

Governments in the Lake Chad countries – Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon – have neglected the region, allowing ISWA to build a stronghold from which to launch attacks.

It makes sense for ISWA to organise the local economy and to raise taxes, said Vincent Foucher, a Boko Haram observer at the French National Centre for Science Research.

“It opens the longer game of trying to create a connection to people,” Mr Foucher said.

Analysts estimate that ISWA has between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters, double that of Boko Haram. A western diplomat said the Nigerian military had “completely lost the initiative against the insurgency”.

ISWA is led by Abu Musab Al Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2009.

The group’s leaders have low profiles, avoiding videos or claiming responsibility for attacks, possibly to avoid the international media and the anger of regional governments.

Boko Haram, in contrast, are led by the publicity-hungry Abubakar Shekau, who has executed close lieutenants. His group has strapped suicide bombs to women and children to attack civilians in mosques, markets and refugee camps.

Nomads in ISWA territory say they feel safer than elsewhere in Nigeria’s north-east.

“They have checkpoints to stop and search, and if you are a regular visitor they know you,” said a herder.

Under ISWA, men have to grow long beards, while nighttime movements are restricted and prayers are compulsory. Offenders receive 40 lashes.

The herders said ISWA provided safe grazing for about 2,500 naira (Dh29) for a cow and 1,500 naira for smaller animals. It runs slaughterhouses, taking a cut for each animal.

Maiduguri is the biggest city in Nigeria’s north-east, the centre of the army’s fight against Boko Haram. But rural areas are no-go zones for the authorities and it is here where ISWA is growing, offering people protection from Boko Haram.

Despite its name, experts say the group’s ties to ISIS are limited.

“What’s clear from ISWA primary source documents is that ISWA has asked ISIS for theological guidance on who it is lawful to attack,” Mr Zenn said.

The western diplomat said: “ISWA is the largest ISIS affiliate but it’s very much a Nigerian organisation. It doesn’t have foreign fighters coming. It’s hard to get to this place.”

ISWA shuns publicity and provides safe grazing, slaughterhouses and protection for people from Boko Haram