Boko Haram Capture of Military Equipment Fuels Lake Chad Insurgency
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Boko Haram’s capture of materiel from government forces in the Lake Chad region bolsters the jihadi insurgency’s lethality, posing a grave risk to civilians, peacekeepers, and other military personnel.
A year ago on this platform I raised a concern that the two main Boko Haram factions secured considerable lethal materiel from attacks on regional security forces. That the dynamic existed and was worth further investigation was clear; the scale and scope of the problem less so. A new report shows that the quantities of lethal materiel seized from these state stockpiles are astonishingly high, and the range of weapon systems lost is worryingly extensive. The diversion of contingent-owned equipment (COE)—that is, government-owned materiel—from the four Lake Chad Basin countries participating in and alongside the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has occurred on a level unprecedented on the African continent.