Al Arabiya News quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on the growing convergence between ISIS and Boko Haram:
J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank who testified at the first-ever U.S. Congressional hearing on Boko Haram, said that there were “tantalizing clues that should not be lightly dismissed” of an emerging convergence between ISIS and Boko Haram.
Some examples Pham noted were the salutations of Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau’s toward ISIS’ self-declared caliphate, ISIS’s Dabiq magazine referencing Boko Haram’s Chibok schoolgirl abduction to justify its treatment of Yazidi women in Iraq, and the adoption of symbols associated with ISIS by Boko Haram, including the black Islamist flag adopted last summer.
Another sign of convergence between the two groups could be the increasing pursuit of a similar, caliphate-orientated strategy, according to Pham.
“Arguably Boko Haram has gone the farthest among jihadist groups of carving out territorial dominion like Daesh,” said Pham, using the Arabic acronym and pejorative term to refer to ISIS.
“In either case, the situation is very dynamic and bears watching,” he added.