Nigeria: Has Boko Haram Become More Than Just Nigeria's Problem?

In a communiqué released on 13 March, Nigeria's Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, warned of the growing threat posed by the Boko Haram Islamist extremist sect.
Speaking to an envoy representing the Cameroonian government of Paul Biya, Abati called upon greater cooperation between Nigeria and its neighbours in combating the group. A failure to do so, the adviser contended, could see Boko Haram becoming the preeminent threat to regional stability.
Abati's sentiments echo growing concerns that the sect, which has generally been regarded as a domestic terrorist group, is on the verge of adopting a more transnational agenda.

In doing so, Boko Haram would pose a significant threat in a region of Africa already afflicted by a myriad of challenges; including political instability and associated ethnic conflicts.
In assessing the merit of such concerns, it is important to note that claims of Boko Haram operating outside of Nigeria are by no means a new development.
The first credible accounts of the group's foreign operations emanated from the deserts of Mali in April 2012 when a power vacuum, catalysed by a military coup, saw the northern half of the country occupied by a coalition of separatist and jihadist forces. According to a briefing issued at the time by Malian regional deputy, Abu Sidibe, Boko Haram was one of the militant groups present within the region.
Sidibe claimed that an estimated 100 Boko Haram militants had infiltrated Mali's Gao administrative division and had aided insurgents of the al-Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) in securing control of the territory.
Boko Haram militants would also later be cited for their alleged role in the 5th April 2012 attack on the Algerian consulate in Gao which resulted in the kidnapping of seven diplomats.
Suggestions of Boko Haram's presence in northern Mali were given further credence by French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius. Speaking at a conference addressing security challenges within the Sahel in November 2013, Fabius claimed that France had acquired documentary evidence detailing the training of Boko Haram militants within northern Mali.