Boko Haram

== Organisation ==

===Leader===
Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf who led the group from 2002 until his death in 2009. After his death, his deputy Abubakar Shekau took control of the group and led it until his suicide in 2021.

Although Boko Haram is organized in a hierarchical structure with one overall leader, the group also operates as a [[clandestine cell system]] using a network structure,<ref name="START">{{cite web |url=http://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/STARTBackgroundReport_BokoHaramRecentAttacks_May2014_0.pdf |title=Boko Haram Recent Attacks |publisher=National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism}}</ref> with units having between 300 and 500 fighters each.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} Estimates of the total number of fighters range between 500 and 9,000.<ref name="conflict-news.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.conflict-news.com/boko-haram-worse-isis/ |title=Are Boko Haram Worse Than ISIS? |publisher=Conflict News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317153121/http://www.conflict-news.com/boko-haram-worse-isis/ |archive-date=17 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="visionofhumanity.org-p53">{{cite web |title=Global Terrorism Index 2014 |publisher=Institute for Economics and Peace |url=http://www.visionofhumanity.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Terrorism%20Index%20Report%202014.pdf |page=53 |access-date=23 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216091255/http://www.visionofhumanity.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Terrorism%20Index%20Report%202014.pdf |archive-date=16 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/10893889/Al-Qaeda-map-Isis-Boko-Haram-and-other-affiliates-strongholds-across-Africa-and-Asia.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/10893889/Al-Qaeda-map-Isis-Boko-Haram-and-other-affiliates-strongholds-across-Africa-and-Asia.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Al-Qaeda map: Isis, Boko Haram and other affiliates' strongholds across Africa and Asia |date=12 June 2014 |access-date=1 September 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Financing===
====Kidnapping for ransom====
Boko Haram is said to have raised substantial sums of money by kidnapping people for [[ransom]]. In 2013, Boko Haram kidnapped a family of seven French [[tourism in Cameroon|tourists]] while they were on vacation in Cameroon and two months later, Boko Haram released the hostages along with 16 others in exchange for a ransom of [[United States dollar|$]]3.15 million.<ref name="Caulderwood">{{cite news |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/fake-charities-drug-cartels-ransom-extortion-where-islamist-group-boko-haram-gets-its-cash-1585743 |title=Fake Charities, Drug Cartels, Ransom and Extortion: Where Islamist Group Boko Haram Gets Its Cash |work=International Business Times |author=Kathleen Caulderwood |date=16 May 2014 |access-date=10 January 2014}}</ref>

====Extortion====
As well as [[extortion]] from local residents, Boko Haram has claimed to extort money from local state governments. A spokesman of Boko Haram claimed that Kano State governor [[Ibrahim Shekarau]] and [[Bauchi State]] governor [[Isa Yuguda]] had paid them monthly.<ref name="thenation20120129">{{cite news|url=http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/mobile/sunday-magazine/cover/34867-tracking-the-sect%E2%80%99s-cash-flow.html |title=Tracking the sect's cash flow |work=The Nation |date=29 January 2012 |access-date=20 March 2012 |last=Ogundipe |first=Taiwo |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120613065340/http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/mobile/sunday-magazine/cover/34867-tracking-the-sect%E2%80%99s-cash-flow.html |archive-date=13 June 2012 }}</ref>

===Relationship with other militant groups===
It has long been alleged that Boko Haram had a relationship with [[al-Qaeda]]. In 2011, letters from Boko Haram were reportedly found in [[Osama bin Laden]]'s compound.<ref name="thedailybeast.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/11/boko-haram-s-bin-laden-connection.html |title=Boko Haram's Bin Laden Connection |website=[[The Daily Beast]]|date=11 May 2014 |last1=Lake |first1=Eli }}</ref>

Three weeks after the [[2009 Boko Haram uprising]] began, [[al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb]] expressed sympathy for Boko Haram.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/world/africa/abduction-of-girls-an-act-not-even-al-qaeda-can-condone.html|title=Abduction of Girls an Act Not Even Al Qaeda Can Condone|date=8 May 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> Speaking by phone to reporters in November 2012, group spokesman [[Abu Qaqa]] said: "We are together with al-Qaeda, they are promoting the cause of Islam, just as we are doing. Therefore they help us in our struggle and we help them, too." The 2012 Reuters special report details how fighters have trained with al-Qaeda affiliates in small groups over at least 6 years.<ref name="Reuters"/>

According to the UN Security Council listing of Boko Haram under the al-Qaeda sanctions regime in May 2014,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2014/sc11410.doc.htm |title=Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee |publisher=United Nations}}</ref> the group "has maintained a relationship with [[al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb|AQIM]] for training and material support purposes", and "gained valuable knowledge on the construction of improvised explosive devices from AQIM". The UN found that a "number of Boko Haram members fought alongside al Qaeda affiliated groups in Mali in 2012 and 2013 before returning to Nigeria with terrorist expertise". AQIM is one of al-Qaeda's regional branches, whose leader, [[Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud]], has sworn an oath of allegiance to al-Qaeda's senior leadership.<ref name="longwarjournal.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/05/un_adds_boko_haram_t.php |title=UN adds Boko Haram to al Qaeda sanctions list |date=23 May 2014 |publisher=longwarjournal.org}}</ref>

Despite its historic ties with Boko Haram, al-Qaeda central has never officially accepted Boko Haram as an affiliate. The issues which divide AQ and Boko Haram are related to the extremism of Abubakar Shekau with respect to his declaration that the entire Muslim population of Nigeria is non-Muslim. Shekau argued that it was legitimate to kill Muslim civilians based on his belief that [[apostasy]] was widespread among the general population of Nigerian Muslims because they voted in elections. Al-Qaeda believes that the general Muslim population of Nigeria should be considered Muslim and based on al-Qaeda's point of view, the killing of civilians is unacceptable.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-boko-haram-nigeria-20150115-story.html |title=How to help Nigerians defeat Boko Haram |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=15 January 2015}}</ref>

Boko Haram has engaged in battle with IS W Africa.