Nigeria Torn Asunder as Boko Haram Drive Fuels Caliphate Threat
Civilians fleeing attacks by Islamist militants receive government aid at a camp for internally displaced people in Yola, Nigeria in November 2014.
Photographer: Sunday Alamba/AP PhotoThis article is for subscribers only.
Islamist fighters have declared a caliphate in northeastern Nigeria that’s the size of Belgium. Whether the region becomes autonomous or not, the damage has been done.
As Nigeria prepares to hold general elections next month, Boko Haram is expanding a six-year campaign to impose its strict version of Islamic law on a region around Nigeria’s northeast and spilling into neighboring Chad and Cameroon. While it’s failed to capture the Borno’s capital, Maiduguri, the state’s emergency agency said this month that its officials can’t travel to 20 of 27 local government areas in Borno.