Authors: Dr. Annette Idler, Dr. Jota Samper, Dr. Katerina Tkacova • Resource type: Interactive Visualizations
In 2009, the conflict consisted only of Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. In 2013, the community-based group Yan Gora formed to protect the local civilian population from Boko Haram (Agbiboa, 2015; Center for Civilians in Conflict, 2018). Nigerian troops together with support from the locally embedded Yan Gora forced Boko Haram to move toward Lake Chad, a region bordering with Chad, Cameroon, and Niger. The porous borders together with the fact that Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State spread violence across the borders of Nigeria (Osumah, 2013), which motivated the governments of Cameroon, Chad, and Niger to join Nigeria in the fight against the Islamists.