Photo source: Foreign policy By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront The security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating for quite a while. Newer conflicts have been simmering in its region, surpassing the older ones, most recent being the north-western region conflict, which has been regarded six times deadlier than the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast that started in 2009. There is a bandit- extremist nexus in northwest Nigeria, which include local kidnappings and manslaughter. The official stance of this conflict by the government is ‘banditry’. However in actuality, there has been an ever growing evidence that the region is becoming a haven for Islamic groups linked to ISIS. It includes the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Ansaru, Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a splinter of Boko Haram, formed in 2016, popularly referred to as the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), and the Fulani herdsmen of West...

Photo Source: BBC By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront T he black flag of the Islamic State is flying high on the frontlines of Sahel, on the southern bounds of the Sahara. Since seven years, national and international forces of France, United Nations, United States, and G5 Sahel Joint Force have tried to stop the jihadism spreading. So far they have failed in their efforts, as the allies are divided by language, culture and experience. As Britain has also to step up its political, military and humanitarian involvement in Sahel, spending over four hundred fifty million pounds in the last five years, it is widely believed that Sahel has eclipsed the Middle East, as a new battleground for Islamic extremism. Despite repeated French airstrikes, jihadist groups claiming allegiance to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, such as Nusrat al-Islam, Ansar ul Islam Burkina Faso, and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) have expanded their influence beyond the borders of northern ...