B’Haram vows to defeat regional joint forces in new video.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau vowed in a
new video released on Monday that the group
would defeat a regional force fighting the
extremists in Nigeria’s far northeast, Niger and
Cameroon.

“Your alliance will not achieve anything. Amass
all your weapons and face us. We welcome you,”
he said in a 28-minute speech, one of three
videos posted by the Islamists on YouTube.

Troops from Nigeria have been backed by
soldiers from Chad, Cameroon and Niger in
recent weeks because of increased concerns
about Boko Haram’s threat to regional security.

In the second of the latest videos, images of the
leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi, are shown along with archive footage
and a voiceover recalling a battle between British
colonial soldiers and fighters from the Sokoto
Caliphate in northern Nigeria.

Shekau has name-checked al-Baghdadi before
but appears to be positioning Boko Haram in a
wider jihadi context by showing the Sokoto
Caliphate, which was dismantled by the British in
the early 20th century.

“We never rose up to fight Africa. We rose up to
fight the world,” he said.

“We are going to fight the world on the principle
that whoever doesn’t obey Allah and the Prophet
to either obey or die or become a slave.”

On Sunday, Boko Haram militants waged twin
attacks in the town of Diffa in southeast Niger,
opening a new front in its offensive after
repeated attacks in Cameroon’s far northern
region.

The six-year uprising has become a regional
crisis and on Saturday, Nigeria, Chad, Niger,
Cameroon and Benin agreed to muster 8,700
troops, police and civilians to fight the group.

But Shekau dismissed the size of the force,
which had previously been set at about 7,500.

“You send 7,000 troops? Why don’t you send 70
million? This is small. Only 7,000? By Allah, it is
small. We can seize them one-by-one. We can
seize them one-by-one,” he said in Arabic.

Shekau also directly threatened Chad’s President
Idriss Deby, whose forces have attacked Boko
Haram in the northeast Nigerian towns of
Gamboru and Malam Fatori in recent days.
Shekau’s challenge comes after the United
States said on Friday that Boko Haram could
face a stronger test against more capable
regional forces.

Washington estimates that Boko Haram has a
core of between 4,000 and 6,000 fighters but is
well-equipped after raiding Nigerian Army
positions.