B'Haram leader, Shekau in new video says group safe, not crushed
*Abubakar Shekau
(Nigeria) Boko Haram's elusive leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a new video on Thursday to dispute a claim that the jihadist group had been routed from its Sambisa Forest stronghold.
"We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere.
And tactics and strategies cannot reveal our location except if Allah wills by
his decree," Shekau said in the 25-minute video, flanked by masked armed
fighters, according to AFP.
"You should not be telling lies to the people," he
said, referring to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who said on Christmas
Eve that the extremist group had been defeated and driven from the forest, its
last known bastion.
"If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like
this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?" he asked.
It was not immediately clear where the new video was shot,
but Shekau, who spoke in both Hausa and Arabic, said it was filmed on Christmas
Day.
Shekau last appeared in a video in September where he
disputed a claim by the Nigerian military that he had been wounded in battle.
He vowed to continue fighting on until an Islamic state was
imposed in northern Nigeria.
"The war is not over yet. There is still more," he
said, vowing no "respite" for Nigerians.
He urged followers around the world to "fight and kill
infidels."
"Our aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate and we
have our own Caliphate, we are not part of Nigeria."
Boko Haram, which last year pledged allegiance to the
Islamic State group, has been in the grip of a power struggle.
The IS high command said in August that Shekau had been replaced
as leader by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the 22-year-old son of Boko Haram's founder
Mohammed Yusuf.
The fresh video came after Buhari announced that a
months-long military campaign in the 1,300 square-kilometre (500 square-mile)
forest in northeastern Borno state had led to the "final crushing of Boko
Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest".
The government in Abuja and the military have frequently
claimed victories against the jihadists but access to the epicentre of the
conflict is strictly controlled, making independent verification virtually
impossible.
Attacks have meanwhile continued, casting doubt over claims
that Boko Haram has been defeated, despite undoubted progress in pushing back
the group.
Boko Haram is waging a seven-year-old uprising against the
Nigerian state that has claimed more than 20,000 lives, with the insurgency
spilling over the West African nation's borders into neighbouring states.
The insurgency has left around 2.6 million people homeless,
sparking a dire humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations warning the
affected region faces the "largest crisis in Africa".
The United Nations estimates that 14 million people will
need external help next year because of the violence, particularly in Borno
State, the jihadist heartland.
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