ICC Note: Boko Haram poses a major threat to the world as “ground zero” in the fight against extremism, top United States (U.S.) mil itary brass said while visiting Chad on Wednesday. While the West African militant Islamist terror group pledged their allegiance to Islamic State (IS) in 2015, the operational connection between the two terror movements and prime persecutors remains unclear. However, military officials revealed links where IS may be funneling weapons through Libya to Boko Haram, which continues to terrorize the Lake Chad region on the border with Niger and Nigeria in the west. Boko Haram’s adaptability has proven a difficult challenge for military operations to be able to claim final and full victory against the insurgency. They continue to terrorize civilian populations with mass murder, church destruction, kidnapping, forced conversion, rape, and suicide bombing attacks. They have historically targeted Christians with the most heinous atrocities, attempting to snuff out the witness of Christ in the region as they aim to establish am Islamic caliphate in West Africa.
4/21/16 N’DJAMENA, Chad (Daily Star) – At “Ground Zero” in Africa’s counter-terrorism fight, senior U.S. officials warned of deepening links between the Islamic State and Boko Haram and prodded Chad’s ruling strongman to introduce reforms for the sake of long-term stability.
But in a rare appearance before foreign journalists at his presidential palace, Chadian President Idriss Deby indicated he wouldn’t help in the U.S.-backed effort to install a unity government in Libya, his country’s northern neighbor, a former foe and an incubator for Muslim extremist groups.
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