ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Jihadist fighters who have long operated in Africa unstable region of the Sahel settled in northwestern Nigeria after crossing from neighboring Benin, a report on Wednesday said, the latest trend in the militants moves to wealthier West African coastal nations.
Extremists believed to be linked to al-Qaeda have been on the move over the past year The hard-hit northern region of Benin and settled in Kainji Lake National Park, one of Nigeria’s largest, where other armed groups also have access, according to the report from the Clingendael Institute think tank, which has done extensive research in the Sahel.
Residents near the park told The Associated Press that the facility, home to one of West Africa’s rapidly declining lion populations, has been closed for more than a year due to security threats from armed groups attacking neighboring villages and roads.
“Before, it was like a tourist 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 this road (leading to the park) now. It’s dangerous, seriously.”
The security situation in the 5,300-square-kilometer (2,000-square-mile) park in Niger state and along the nearby border with Benin is “out of whack” and “a much more explosive situation than we expected,” said Kars de. Bruijne, one of the report’s authors and a senior researcher at the institute.
The “permanent presence” of armed groups in the park is the first sign of a connection between Nigeria’s Homegrown Extremists who have waged a decade-long insurgency in its northern region and al-Qaeda-linked fighters from the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara desert, Bruyne said.
Their presence offers an opportunity for extremists to claim large-scale success in both countries, which have already been hit by deadly attacks in recent years, he added.
Known as a global hot spot for violent extremism, the worsening security crisis in the Sahel region comes as military coups take place overthrowing democratic governments. As military governments struggle to contain the violence, they are increasingly at odds with traditional security partners France and the United States and turns to Russia for support.
In northwestern Nigeria, security analysts have previously warned that the region’s remote areas, where the government is largely absent but rich in mineral resources and high levels of poverty, are an opportunity for jihadist groups that have operated mainly in the Sahel to expand. as well as the Islamic State group, whose fighters dominate the Lake Chad Basin.
“A link between Lake Chad and the Sahel is an important opportunity for al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to boast their profiles as leaders of global jihad,” 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 population has declined as a result of poaching and climate change. They say the park and most protected wildlife areas in Nigeria are not well patrolled, making them easy targets for armed groups.
“The security situation has become at the top of the list of concerns about lion populations in Nigeria,” said Stella Egbe, senior conservation officer at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation.
The Nigerian military frequently carries out airstrikes and deploys personnel to criminal hideouts in the conflict-hit northern region. But security forces – worn out by a decade of war in the northeast – are still outnumbered and outgunned in these remote villages, and the root causes of the conflict, such as poverty, remain.
The Clingendael report said it is unclear what the Sahel extremists’ motivation is in the park and what their relationship will be with other armed groups there. Security analysts say it offers opportunities for logistics and more leverage amid a boom in illicit trade across the porous border.
“Sahelian jihadists can potentially try to use northwest Nigeria as a place to raise money, for logistical support and to try to influence jihadist groups there as part of their own competition,” said James Barnett, a fellow at the Hudson Institute. whose works in North West Nigeria are mentioned in the report.
In many villages in northwestern Nigeria, robbery — not jihadist fighters — remains the primary security threat, Barnett said.
The bandits have on a few occasions in the past teamed up with jihadist fighters as two separate groups to carry out attacks. But even in rare partnerships, he said, there can be “very deadly consequences.”