00:00Well, Fola Hanmi Aina is a political scientist and lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies here in
00:06London.
00:07Joining me now, thank you so much for your time.
00:09How significant is the killing of al-Manuki for Islamic State in Nigeria,
00:16particularly as we've just been hearing Boko Haram, a rival group, is very active in the country as well?
00:24Thank you very much.
00:25So his killing is particularly very important, given the fact that he played a significant role in ISIS operations,
00:33not only in Nigeria, the Lechad, Beijing, the broader Sahel, and, of course, globally.
00:39Until his death, Abu Bilal was the head of the Global Directorate of Protectorates across ISIS operations.
00:49So he did play a very significant role, both in terms of recruitment and financing ISIS operations.
00:55And so, as a result of his death, you can expect that this will in many ways set back ISIS
01:00operations,
01:01in addition to the fact that it will also significantly degrade the capacity of ISIS to stage attacks in the
01:10near future.
01:11How powerful is Islamic State, or ISIS, globally these days?
01:16The Islamic State apparently still remains quite powerful.
01:22Since the group was dislodged in the Levant, it's found a safe haven, particularly in Africa.
01:29And, of course, it's mostly moved its operations to West Africa, particularly the Sahel region,
01:36from where it has grown in ranks and increased, of course, through recruitment efforts and expanded,
01:41including the use of more sophisticated weaponry, such as drones.
01:45But, of course, despite this, the group has also experienced or suffered significant setbacks,
01:52which in many ways has also affected its operations.
01:55So I would say that ISIS does still remain quite a formidable terrorist organization across the globe.
02:02What we have seen, and you referenced this a little earlier,
02:05is that groups like ISIS have been very active across the Sahel belt,
02:11and that includes countries like Mali.
02:13We've seen activity there in recent weeks with the defense minister being killed.
02:19Russian troops that were supporting the government have been retreating.
02:23Talk to us about the jihadist groups that are operating across the Sahel,
02:28and whether they're competing with each other or somewhat united.
02:33So that's quite an interesting question, because just to make a quick clarification
02:37with regards to the point you made on Mali,
02:39the group that was responsible for the recent attacks that we saw that led to the deaths of the defense
02:44minister
02:44was an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, and not an ISIS-affiliated one, and that's Janine.
02:49So Janine remains the most formidable terrorist organization currently in the world.
02:55But, of course, ISIS does continue to operate in the broader Sahel region.
02:59In fact, they have a province referred to as Islamic State Sahel Province, ISSP,
03:05which remains particularly very active.
03:07This is separate from ISWAP, the Islamic State West Africa province.
03:10And so, yes, they remain quite a formidable terrorist organization.
03:15But, of course, in many ways, we've also seen some elements of collaboration,
03:18but not necessarily with al-Qaeda because of the doctrinal differences and operational differences between both groups.
03:25But that's not to say that ISIS hasn't had some form of collaboration and cooperation
03:30with organized criminal gangs and other groups across the region,
03:35particularly as it intensifies efforts to try to expand its reach across the Sahel
03:41and, of course, the broader West African and South region.
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