The United States has welcomed the decision of the United Nations Security Council’s 1267 al-Qa’ida and ISIL (Da’esh) Sanctions Committee on February 23, 2020.

The United States has welcomed the decision of the United Nations Security Council’s 1267 al-Qa’ida and ISIL (Da’esh) Sanctions Committee on February 23, 2020.

The UN added ISIS-West Africa (ISIS-WA or ISWAP) and ISIS-Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS) to its terrorist designations list.

ISWAP, the ISIS affiliate in West Africa, has wreaked havoc in Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

Some of its leaders and members broke out from the Boko Haram sect a few years ago.

State Department spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus, on Wednesday recalled that the U.S. designated ISIS-WA and ISIS-GS as Foreign Terrorist Organizations under on May 23, 2018 and February 28, 2018, respectively.

Ortagus, in a statement, noted that ISIS-WA is responsible for killing hundreds of innocent civilians in dozens of attacks since its inception in 2015.

The statement lamented that ISIS-GS also carried out numerous attacks since its formation in 2015, including the October 2017 attack that killed four U.S. soldiers in Niger Republic.

“This UN designation obligates all member states to implement an arms embargo, a global travel ban, and asset freeze on ISIS-WA and ISIS-GS, actions that will cut the groups off from the resources they need to continue their terrorist activities.”

The U.S. stated that the designation is a necessary step in the global fight to defeat ISIS.

The United States has welcomed the decision of the United Nations Security Council’s 1267 al-Qa’ida and ISIL (Da’esh) Sanctions Committee on February 23, 2020.

The UN added ISIS-West Africa (ISIS-WA or ISWAP) and ISIS-Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS) to its terrorist designations list.

ISWAP, the ISIS affiliate in West Africa, has wreaked havoc in Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

Some of its leaders and members broke out from the Boko Haram sect a few years ago.

State Department spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus, on Wednesday recalled that the U.S. designated ISIS-WA and ISIS-GS as Foreign Terrorist Organizations under on May 23, 2018 and February 28, 2018, respectively.

Ortagus, in a statement, noted that ISIS-WA is responsible for killing hundreds of innocent civilians in dozens of attacks since its inception in 2015.

The statement lamented that ISIS-GS also carried out numerous attacks since its formation in 2015, including the October 2017 attack that killed four U.S. soldiers in Niger Republic.

“This UN designation obligates all member states to implement an arms embargo, a global travel ban, and asset freeze on ISIS-WA and ISIS-GS, actions that will cut the groups off from the resources they need to continue their terrorist activities.”

The U.S. stated that the designation is a necessary step in the global fight to defeat ISIS.

“Despite the complete liberation of ISIS-held territory in Iraq and Syria, ISIS affiliates around the world remain a significant terrorist threat, including in Africa, and the international community must work together to deny them the resources they seek.

“The United States remains fully engaged with our African partners to address security challenges and to advance peace and security on the continent.”

Nigerian forces killed three ISWAP leaders this month.

Recently too, ISWAP appointed Amir Abba-Gana as the new leader.

But Abba-Gana leads a faction, a sign that the sect was not currently united.

The terrorist emerged after the sect executed a top leader, Ba’a Idirisa, on February 9, 2019.

Ba’a Idirisa had replaced Abu-Mossad Albarnawee, a few months ago after infighting.

Both are biological children of late Boko Haram founder, Muhammad Yusuf.

An airstrike in southern Somalia killed a senior al-Shabaab official believed to have been involved in planning a daring January raid on a Kenyan airbase that left three American personnel dead, U.S. Africa Command said according to thedefensepost.com.

“Post-strike assessments confirm the two terrorists killed in the Feb. 22 precision airstrikes were an individual associated with the attack on Manda Bay and his wife, who was also a known al-Shabaab member,” AFRICOM said Tuesday, February 25.

AFRICOM did not name those killed, but described the man as “a senior al-Shabaab leader, who was in charge of planning and directing terrorist operations on the Kenya border region,” including the recent attack on Camp Simba, at Kenya’s Manda Bay Airbase.

The press release added that his wife “was a witting and active member of al-Shabaab responsible for facilitating a wide range of terrorist activities.”

AFRICOM spokesperson U.S. Navy Lieutenant Christina Gibson told The Defense Post via email the names were not “available for release” at the time of the announcement.

The strike occurred near Saakow, which is around 320 km (200 miles) west of Mogadishu.

The announcement comes one day after local reports that a senior employee of Somalia’s Hormuud telecommunications company was killed by a U.S. strike near Jilib.

The United Nations Security Council described Hormuud as “one of the single largest financiers of Al-Shabaab” in 2012, but the company has denied working with Shabaab.

Speaking to Voice of America on Monday, a company representative also denied that the deceased employee, Mohamud Haji Sirad, had any affiliation with the Islamist group. AFRICOM said one Shabaab militant had been killed in the strike.

AFRICOM has come under scrutiny for admitting only one incident causing civilian casualties in more than 200 airstrikes in Somalia since 2007.

Data released on Tuesday by Airwars suggests the number of civilian casualties in the U.S. air campaign is likely orders of magnitude higher than what AFRICOM has reported.

The U.S. conducts targeted strikes against al-Shabaab members and affiliates in support of Somalia’s Federal Government in coordination with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Somali National Army forces, who receive training from the U.S., Turkey and other countries, have struggled to establish control of rural areas outside of the capital, Mogadishu, according to a recent Pentagon report.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab was routed from Mogadishu in 2011 by the now 20,000-strong AMISOM mission. The group has had to abandon most of its strongholds but it still controls vast rural areas and remains the key threat to peace in Somalia and has carried out a number of deadly attacks in neighboring Kenya.

French and African forces announced that more than 100 “terrorists” were killed during a recent operation that also resulted in the seizure of bomb-making equipment, like reported by washingtonexaminer.com.

Niger’s defense ministry said in a statement last week that “120 terrorists have been neutralized” during the operation that took place in the country’s Tillaberi region, which borders Burkina Faso and Mali and has experienced multiple attacks by jihadist groups over the past few years. No French or Nigerien forces were reportedly killed in the operation.

Issoufou Katambe, Niger’s defense minister, praised the cooperation with French forces “in the battle against terrorism.” Groups affiliated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda operate in that part of the country, and violence there has displaced some 78,000 people.

France boosted its military presence in the area earlier this year, and Niger has increased restrictions by closing markets and banning motorbike usage after attacks by the terrorist groups killed 174 Nigerien troops in December and January.

In neighboring Burkina Faso, Islamic jihadist groups have targeted churches, with one attack this month killing two dozen people and injuring 18 more. Last May, a group of about 20 to 30 militants entered a Catholic church in Burkina Faso and killed six people, including the priest.

The resurgence of Boko Haram attacks in the North-east, which has claimed hundreds of civilians and soldiers, undermine repeated claims by the military that the group has been decimated, like reported by thisdaylive.com.

In the past months, specifically from April 2019, there has been a consistent resurgence and escalation of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) attacks in the North-east (NE). Already, the renewed onslaught by BHT has claimed hundreds of lives, especially that of soldiers, who are often the first buffer in the line of attack.

It is therefore no gainsaying that the intensified and repeated attacks in recent times undermine the repeated claims by the military that the sect had been decimated. For years, and even in recent times, with the numerous successes they recorded, the military has maintained that the rampaging sect has been contained, but the recent resurgence has put paid to those claims.

Although Boko Haram no longer controls swathes of territory in the NE as it did in the height of insurgency in 2014, the recent attacks underscores the continued threat the sect poses to the region.

Globally, the threat posed by terrorism cannot be understated. Accordingly, nations have evolved various approaches to tackle the menace with mixed results depending on the country and nature of the threat. Nigeria has not been an exception when the rise of the sect assumed international notoriety in 2009.

Regrouping Boko Haram Forces

World over, the military and security forces battle one major challenge: regrouping terror forces. Although Nigeria continues to suffer the same fate in its fight against the BHTs, there is no doubt that the military has considerably recorded some successes by reclaiming lost grounds, pushing them back into the arid desert and sometimes, even crippling their sources of weaponry.

But despite these measures, the terrorists keep inventing new strategies to stay afloat. While they have been sacked from the caliphates they had arrogated to themselves, they still unleash pockets of violence in some areas, especially through suicide bombing, and most recently, the resurgence and attacks in Borno State.

According to security analysts, the insurgents are pulling off almost-daily attacks. As if that was not enough, they cut off power from the national grid.

Failed Promise

Nigeria’s war against the extremist group is supposed to be over by now if one was to have believed the promise made by President Muhammadu Buhari, when he was contesting for presidency in 2015.

Done with his first term and a year into his second term, Boko Haram still roars. It so appears that they posses even more sophisticated drones, with their armoury well stocked.

Chronology of Attacks from April 2019 to February 2020

Since the commencement of hostilities, the casualty figures have expectedly been high. Here are some of the attacks and its resultant consequences.

April
In April, a former National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Abraham Amuta, who was abducted by Boko Haram insurgents. Recently, he reportedly rejected an offer to be freed by the terrorists, claiming he has now embraced Islam and Boko Haram ideology as his new religion.

June

On June 12, the sect attacked Kareto Village in Borno, where they killed a commanding officer, and other soldiers of the 158 Battalion. Shortly after the attacks, the terrorists relocated to Fuchimiram Village, six kilometres West of Kare.

On June 16, at least 30 persons were killed and 42 injured in multiple explosions in Borno after three suicide bombers, one male and two female, detonated explosives at a local tea shop and a Cinema centre in Konduga, where football fans were watching a match on TV, at around 9pm.

July

On July 28, dozens of mourners were killed by BokoHaram at a funeral in Borno. The gunmen reportedly arrived on motorcycles and in vans and opened fire on the mourners. The attack was said to be a reprisal of the death of 11 members of their sect.

August

On August 6, two female suicide bombers killed three civilians and wounded eight others in Mafa, about 30 miles east of Maiduguri. The suicide bombers entered the town with a group of local women who had gone to fetch firewood for cooking, they waited until around 8:30pm before launching their attack.

On August 15, three Nigerian soldiers were killed and others injured during a gun battle with insurgents in Molai Village on the outskirts of Borno. It took the intervention of the air force fighter jets to repel the terrorists.

September

On September 8, five local farmers were shot dead while working on their farm at Shamawa Village in Konduga LGA.

On September 15, Boko Haram fighters staged gun and suicide bomb attacks on a military camp outside the perimeter wall of the University of Maiduguri. When the sect staged an attack on the soldiers, they were repelled, forcing one to detonate his suicide vest.

October

On October 14, the sect again launched an attack on Babban Gida, the headquarters of Tarmuwa Local Government Council in Yobe State. Dressed in army camouflage, they stormed the council in nine Toyota Hilux and first attacked a military formation shooting repeatedly before proceeding to break some food stores.

November

On November 18, Jihadists killed four Nigerian soldiers and a member of a local self-defence group in an ambush outside the town of Marte in the Lake Chad region.

Although the Nigerian army said its forces thwarted an ambush by jihadists close to Marte, but they did not give any death toll.

December

On Saturday, December 15, Boko Haram gunned down 19 cattle herders outside Fuhe Village, near Ngala close to the border with Cameroon.

The herders had earlier repelled an attack by Boko Haram fighters who invaded the village to steal livestock, killing one of the militants. Giving chase again, this time around, the herders were overwhelmed and subdued by the sect.

January

On January 8, 2020, at least 15 people were killed when the sect launched an attack on Magumeri Town in Borno. They stormed the town in 11 vehicles and killed eight local militia members, six residents, and a security officer. The gunmen had hit the town with anti-aircraft guns and various caliber of arms.

Also on January 8, no fewer than three soldiers were killed in an intense fighting between the army and the sect around a key garrison town in the Lake Chad area. The soldiers died when an army vehicle burst into flames after a car filled with explosives rammed into a convoy.

A patrol team was attacked near Monguno, but the patrol was quickly reinforced and the attack was repelled. Though there were fewer casualties on the Nigerian troops through vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), many Boko Haram Terrorists were however eliminated during the encounter.

On January 21, Boko Haram cut off Maiduguri from Nigeria’s national power grid. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), confirmed in a statement that the insurgents had damaged the electricity equipment serving the state capital and its environs.

On January 31, a girl detonated a bomb, killing three boys at an Islamic seminary in Muna Dalti,
on the outskirts of Maiduguri. The teenage suicide bomber walked up to the group of boys who were just ending their lessons and “blew herself up in their midst. Four others were injured.

Moments earlier, another young girl stormed into a house in the area and detonated her explosives, injuring one person and destroyed the house totally.

February

On Sunday, February 2, a major tragedy was averted at the Sabon Tasha branch of the Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) in Kaduna as a middle-aged man was caught with what is suspected to be an Improvised Explosive Device.

The incident coincided with the day General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, led members on a prayer walk to decry insecurity in the country.

On Sunday, February 9, not less than 30 people were killed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in a night attack on Auno village on Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway. The villagers while narrating their ordeal, said many other residents were abducted in the siege. Also, 18 vehicles comprising trailers, buses and cars were burnt by the insurgents.

The burnt persons were those that could not get into Maiduguri as the gate to the town was shut against them having failed to arrive before the 5pm deadline. That incident raised a lot of hullabaloo and rightfully so.

On February 12, hundreds of residents of Jiddari Polo in Maiduguri metropolis fled their homes into the city following sporadic shootings suspected to have been masterminded by Boko Haram sect.
The incident came barely few hours after President Muhammadu Buhari visited the state for sympathy visit.

On Friday, February 14, Korongilum community in Chibok LGA of Borno was attacked by suspected Boko Haram insurgents. Locals were just returning from their farms when the attack happened.

On Friday, February 21, soldiers engaged in a fierce gun battle with the sect who invaded Garkida, a town in Gombi LGA of Adamawa State. Many persons, according to the reports, were feared killed by the invaders who announced their entry into the town by shooting indiscriminately.

Army’s Take

Maintaining his stance that the sect has been degraded, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, speaking in a recent interview with THISDAY and Arise News TV, said the military has defeated insurgency in the North-east, but is now facing the challenge of terrorism.

He said even though insurgency had been defeated, terrorism would remain in the country for years. “We must differentiate between insurgency and terrorism. I have tried to tell them at the National Assembly. Someone said three local governments are under Boko Haram. How? These guys are not controlling any territory. They attempted to establish their territory, caliphate in Gwoza but they have not been able to because they were flushed out. That is insurgency. They are not holding any territory.

“Typically, that is the end if insurgency. But what of terrorism? Terrorism will outlive you and me and probably everybody in this house because terrorism, since it started, just like armed robbery, like kidnapping, burglary, cultism, it would continue. These are all smaller parts of terrorism. It is when it goes higher that you have arsons.

“What is happening now is just criminality. Since last year, we have not given them any respite. They are now blocked. They no longer have access to food; their movements are constrained; they no longer get the fuel they needed easily because we have strangulated them. They are now in depressed state; so, they go out with vengeance to attack commuters, abduct individuals and target certain religious persons just for their propaganda. This is also is one of the Boko Haram terrorist’s strategy – propaganda.”

Call for Sack of Service Chiefs

On January 29, 2020, general security lapses in the country forced some senators to call for the sack of service chiefs and the resignation of the Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Adamu.

In a rowdy session, the lawmakers who made the demand for the sack of service chiefs in their respective contributions to the discussion on the security situation in the country during plenary, were Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, as well as Senators Musa Sani, Betty Apiafi, and Solomon Adeola.

While Sani called for the resignation of the police boss, Apiafi and Adeola asked the president to remove the service chiefs. According to the lawmakers, the service chiefs should be replaced since they do not have new ideas in fighting insecurity in the country.

That was just one of the many calls for their sack. Across board, security experts, civil society organisations and even Nigerians have all echoed the call for their sack, especially in the wake of the resurgence.

Presidency’s Response

Given the clamour for the sack of service chiefs, on February 15, the presidency cautioned against comments misleading the public and inciting protests against the heads of military institutions.

The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who gave this warning, said it became necessary in view of the reported plan to hire crowd to demonstrate against the service chiefs.

Shehu, who urged the media to remain unbiased and discerning in their reporting, instead of becoming unwitting tools in the hands of the opposition.

Further rejecting the call for sack of the service chiefs, the presidency on another occasion insisted that the armed forces are doing a great job deserving the support and appreciation of all Nigerians. Speaking on the NTA network ‘Good Morning Nigeria’,
Shehu also re-echoed the earlier stand that the crisis in Libya is responsible for the resurgence of Boko Haram activities in the North-east.

He said those calling for their sack do not have the kind of information at the disposal of the president, adding that the armed forces are doing an enormously good job, but the challenges have mounted because of factors extraneous to the region.

He said: “Europeans for their competing interests in Libya were dropping weapons into villages in Libya. A lot of these elements have found their way into ungoverned spaces in the Sahel. Could it be better with the sacking of the service chiefs?

“The president as the commander-in-chief is not a novice in the first instance. He was a military commander, a military head of state and the latitude of opinions intellectual, security, military available to him is not available to most of the critics. So, it is wrong of them to interlope in a way and begin to speak on matters of which they do not have the competence to pass judgement. I hope I don’t seem arrogant but I am stating facts as they are.”

While the military must be given accolades for the successes they have recorded so far, new strategies must be mapped out in this revolving menace of insurgency.

Al-Shabaab Islamists carried out attacks on two Somali military bases, using a suicide vehicle bombing and dozens of heavily armed militants, a military official said according to dailymail.co.uk.

African Union troops stepped in to help repel the second, larger attack, after a suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives onto a bridge leading to the Qoryoley army base some 95 kilometres (59 miles) west of Mogadishu and detonated it.

Earlier they had attacked the Ceel-salini military base some 30 kilometres away.

“The terrorists carried out an … attack on the military bases at Qoryoley and Ceel-salini but our brave boys repelled them, they (Shabaab) have suffered heavy casualties this morning and the army is in full control in the both areas now,” said Mohamed Adan, a Somali military commander in a nearby town.

“They have destroyed part of the bridge across the entrance to Qoryoley where the Somali military base is located using a vehicle loaded with explosives.”

He said the AU peacekeeping force AMISOM had helped fight the Al-Qaeda linked militants.

It was not yet known how many casualties there were.

Witnesses said dozens of heavily armed Shabaab militants entered Qoryoley town and addressed a gathering of residents before retreating.

“The Shabaab fighters entered the town and one of their commanders spoke with a gathering before they made their way out of the town, the situation is quiet now and the Somali forces backed by AMISOM soldiers are patrolling the streets,” Ali Moalim, a resident in Qoryoley said by phone.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying they had “captured a sizeable amount of military supplies”.

The group has fought for over a decade to topple the internationally-backed Somali government, and carries out regular attacks against civilian and government targets, despite losing much of the territory they once controlled.

At least 13 militants of Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabaab were killed, and several others wounded in a military operation against the group in lower Shabelle region.

Somalia’s specially-trained forces known as Danab conducted a military operation at al-Shabaab facilities near the town of Leego, located in the northwest of the capital Mogadishu, according to Somali military radio.

Ismail Abdimalik Malin, a senior military commander in the region said, “Our specially-trained units from Danab had conducted an operation against terrorist group al-Shabaab that killed 13 militants and wounded several others.”

Our aim was to target the militants and kill its commanders and at this time the operation was quick and devastating, he added.

The operation came days after some special forces units which were trained in Turkey returned to the country.

Gen. Adawa Yusuf Rage, a Somali armed forces commander, said: “I want to thank our Turkish brothers for their help to train these special forces, this unit will help us fight against al-Shabaab.”

Islamic terrorists have killed 24 people and wounded 18 in an attack on a Protestant church in a village in northern Burkina Faso, the regional governor has said.

 

A group of “armed terrorists” entered Pansi in Yagha province and “attacked the peaceful local population, after having identified them and separated them from non-residents”, Col Salfo Kaboré said.

The incident took place on Sunday during a weekly service, security officials said. “The provisional toll is 24 killed, including the pastor … 18 wounded and individuals who were kidnapped,” Kaboré added.

A resident of the nearby town of Sebba said Pansi villagers had fled there for safety.

Burkina Faso is on the frontline of a jihadist insurgency advancing in the Sahel. Since 2015, about 750 people have been killed and about 600,000 people have been forced from their homes.

Christians have become frequent targets in the north of the country.

On 10 February, suspected jihadists in Sebba seized seven people at the home of a pastor. Five bodies were found three days later, including that of the pastor, according to the local governor.

According to UN figures, nearly 4,000 people were killed in jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali and Niger last year.

For the first time the escalating terrorism threat in Mozambique has been discussed by African leaders, at the 33rd African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa – more than two years after the insurgency started in the northern Cabo Delgado province. AU officials spoke of a “totally new threat” that has reached “unprecedented levels” in Mozambique, like reported by dailymaverick.co.za.

The United Nations last week warned that the terror attacks were becoming more frequent and spreading southwards. It says there have been 28 attacks in Cabo Delgado since the beginning of 2020. At least 100 000 people have been displaced and up to 400 killed since the beginning of the insurgency.

“Armed groups have been randomly targeting local villages and terrorising the local population. Those fleeing speak of killings, maiming, and torture, burnt homes, destroyed crops and shops. We have reports of beheadings, kidnappings and disappearances of women and children,” said the UN High Commission for the Refugees (UNHCR), who Mozambique has asked to help those displaced.

“The attackers at times warn the local population where and when they will strike, creating panic as people rush to flee their villages. Most leave everything behind,” UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said.

Despite these warnings there has been little or no mention of Mozambique at the AU up to now. Its 66-page report to heads of state on Monday, noted only that the “northern part of Mozambique, including its border areas with the neighbouring Tanzania, face the risk of overspill of terrorist activities from those regions of the continent that are already afflicted”.

Asked about the situation, AU Commissioner for peace and security Smaїl Chergui said the AU could help Mozambique with information sharing, providing equipment and training Mozambican soldiers. To them this was “totally new,” Chergui said. The AU could also help Mozambique understand the phenomenon in order to “respond holistically,” he said.

The AU has over the years improved intelligence sharing. It inaugurated the new headquarters of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa on the margins of the summit.

An AU official who attended closed discussions on peace and security at the summit said while Mozambique acknowledged they needed assistance, the situation was unlikely to reach the official agenda of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) any time soon. Mozambique is on the PSC, and in the past members have been averse to seeing their own country situations tabled by the council.

Such discussions would also need approval from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the official said. The regional body believes it should be the first to step in and take charge of crises in Southern Africa. So far, SADC has ignored the situation, at least publicly. It has not been tabled at any meetings of the SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and Security, currently headed by Zimbabwe.

South Africa, as AU chairperson, isn’t a member of the PSC, but can place issues on the council agenda. Last month South Africa’s international relations minister Naledi Pandor said there was grave concern about the claims that Mozambique’s terror attacks were linked to Islamic State.

Experience elsewhere in Africa has shown that AU involvement in curbing terrorism has had mixed results, at best. The summit acknowledged that military responses such as the G5 Sahel force in the Sahel hadn’t had the desired impact. In fact terrorism has increased dramatically in many of the countries in that region.

The AU’s Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram, created after much discussion at an AU summit in 2014, has also been unable to reduce terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin. And the African Union Mission in Somalia hasn’t managed to sustain its initial gains in driving out al-Shabaab. None of these responses would have been possible without the financial support and capacity from the UN, the European Union and others.

At the summit AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat made an impassioned plea for ‘solidarity’ among African countries to help those facing terrorism, even if affected states weren’t in their immediate regions.

Increasingly African leaders acknowledge that military responses aren’t adequate and other ways should be found to deal with terrorism. They admit that terror threats are more often than not rooted in local grievances that need local solutions. The link between weak governance and economic development and the growth of terror groups is increasingly gaining traction.

On the margins of the AU summit Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita for the first time revealed that his government had started dialogue with some leaders of jihadist groups that have wreaked havoc in his country for years.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi also recently said he was willing to start talks with the insurgents – although at the same time he threatened to ‘hunt them down’. Nyusi didn’t attend the AU summit, instead holding a cabinet meeting in Cabo Delgado – an unprecedented move to show his commitment to addressing the problem.

Nyusi recently admitted that Mozambique needed external help to fight terrorism. Last year he asked Russia for help, and numerous Russian mercenaries arrived in Mozambique. Many were however reportedly killed, and those remaining have retreated to Pemba.

This kind of outside involvement in African conflicts has been criticised by some of Nyusi’s fellow African leaders, including new AU chairperson, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa. Yet South Africa hasn’t provided any support – military or otherwise – to Mozambique, at least not publicly.

Given SADC’s reluctance to get involved, it remains to be seen whether Mozambique will feature at the special heads of state summit in South Africa on Silencing the Guns, the AU theme for 2020, in May this year.

The major challenge for Mozambique and the AU is the lack of information about who exactly is responsible for the attacks. So although it’s still unclear how best to deal with terrorism in Mozambique, at least the continent has stopped turning a blind eye.

Militant Boko Haram members killed at least 30 people, abducted women and children before burning 18 vehicles, including eight trucks loaded with goods in a raid in north-eastern Nigeria, media reports said.

The Leadership Newspaper reported on Tuesday that the raid took place in Auno town on a major highway in Borno State, on Sunday saying most of the victims were travellers who were burnt to death while sleeping in their vehicles during an overnight stop, officials said.

In the publication, it was said the closure usually forced travellers and commuters to sleep over whenever the road was closed, to continue the journey the following morning when the road is opened by the military.

A source who survived the attack and who spoke on condition of anonymity told the publication that corpses were still being brought into Maiduguri to hospitals for identification.

The source said the Boko Haram terrorists abducted an undisclosed number of persons after killing and razing of vehicles.

“The insurgents abducted a number of women and children and killed not less than 30 people who are mostly motorists and destroyed 18 vehicles,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Borno State governor, Babagana Umara Zulum who visited the scene to assess the level of destruction and killings, called on the Army to create a unit in Auno to curtail further destruction of lives and property by the terrorists in Auno and the Maiduguri- Damaturu highway.

“We have made repeated call for the military to establish a unit in Auno. What the Army usually does is to close this gate by between 4:30pm to 5pm after which they will withdraw.”

“I have been briefed that over 30 persons lost their lives to this attack. So there is the need for the presence of soldiers permanently on this route,” the governor was quoted saying.

French soldiers killed more than 30 Islamist militants in Mali in three separate operations targeting al Qaeda and Islamic State-linked groups, France’s armed forces said.

France, the former colonial power in a number of West African countries, has about 4,500 soldiers in the region in its counter-terrorism taskforce Operation Barkhane. The United Nations has a 13,000-strong peacekeeping operation in Mali.

In the Gourma region, soldiers of the French Barkhane force killed about 20 militants and destroyed several vehicles, while in the Liptako region, a stronghold of Islamic State, 10 more were killed, the army said.

The operations involved a drone, warplanes and two helicopters, it said.

In December, French forces killed 33 Islamist militants in Mali using attack helicopters, ground troops and a drone near the border with Mauritania where a group linked to al Qaeda operates.

On Sunday, France said it planned to deploy 600 more soldiers in the fight against militants in the Sahel, an arid region of West Africa south of the Sahara desert. The reinforcements would mostly be sent to the area between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The United Nations, France and the United States have poured billions of dollars into stabilising the Sahel, but with little success.