As jihadist supremacy and rivalry continues to take shape in Africa, West Africa’s Sahel region has become the latest battleground for Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS).
This has been confirmed with the latest infighting when the IS fighters revealed to have engaged Al-Qaeda aligned militants in a fierce clash in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The Islamic State made the revelation on May 7 in a detailed report in its weekly newspaper al-Naba. IS accused Al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), for starting the battle besides mobilizing it large forces to attack IS hideouts in above named countries.
This scenario is becoming too familiar. IS and Al-Qaeda aligned affiliates continue to lock horns in other jihadist destinations such as Syria, Somalia and Yemen and an effort to outdo each other thereby competing for influence, resources and recruits.
The battle of supremacy could have a significant impact on counterterrorism operations involving foreign and local troops in the Sahel region. Despite joint military operations in the Sahel, jihadist outfits have also scaled-up attacks since last year.
In its one of its weekly newspaper al-Naba, that run Islamic State propaganda, IS decried of recent Al-Qaeda attacks on IS militants in Mali and Burkina Faso, where both militant groups maintain active operations.
IS through this publication decried that JNIM, on the orders of its leaders Iyad Ag Ghaly and Amadou Koufa, had amassed big forces to target IS on a number of occasions in both countries since April. IS also blamed Al-Qaeda branch, JNIM of blocking fuel supplies from reaching IS militants and detaining locals supporting them (sympathisers).
IS sees JNIM as its only obstacle towards achieving it cause in the Sahel. The Islamic State affiliate branch blamed JNIM of collaborating with ‘apostate’ noting there have been up-scaled local and French troops operations targeting their positions in the Sahel.
IS alleges JNIM has agreed to hold talks with the ‘apostate’ Mali government and other forces operating in northern Mali including “the pagan” Dogon self-defence militias. It is not separately confirmed if JNIM has sought open dialogue with Malian authorities or if this is a strategy by the IS to undermine the Al-Qaeda group’s jihadist credentials.
The latest IS revelation finally confirms what local media have been reporting for weeks regarding infighting between the two jihadist groups in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The IS-JNIM clashes are the latest episode in years of rivalry between IS and Al-Qaeda. The main is; IS blames Al-Qaeda of going soft and deviating from core jihadist primary principles, while Al-Qaeda portrays IS members as blood-thirsty ultra-extremists who violate Sharia law and give “the mujahideen” a bad outlook.
