Lakurawa, the new armed group wreaking havoc on the Nigeria-Niger border

A new armed group known as Lakurawa is threatening villages in remote areas of northwestern Nigeria and across the border in Niger, adding to the country’s already languishing conflict that includes Boko Haram.

The Nigerian army first acknowledged Lakurawa’s existence in November, stating that its members were based in the nation’s Sokoto and Kebbi states.

Difficult numbers of people have been killed in attacks by the organization, and the Nigerian army has identified at least nine suspected members.

In recent years, the northern region of Nigeria has experienced a deadly mix of armed attacks, kidnappings, and banditry, making it one of the hottest areas of violence. For more than ten years, the Nigerian army has been engaged in a long-running conflict with the Boko Haram armed group in the northeast.

Joint military operations have been impacted by Nigeria’s strained relations with Niger, which resulted from Niger’s coup d’etat in July 2023, and have, according to officials, given more room for growth for the Lakurawa group.

Here’s what to know about the group:

Who is Lakurawa?

According to officials in the Nigerian army, Lakurawa fighters are reportedly from Mali, a Sahelian nation that is currently under the control of a swarm of transnational armed groups.

ISIL affiliates in the Greater Sahara and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) are just two of the armed organizations that are destabilizing Mali.

Officials in Nigeria claim Lakurawa members are connected to Malian organizations but have for years settled in towns along the border, marrying local women, and recruit young people.

Researchers tracing the origin of the group, however, note that its members have not just begun operating. Originally, Lakurawa members were herdsmen who would carry rifles for protection.

Local authorities in the Sokoto State region of Gudu and Tangaza invited them to help combat armed bandits who were then robbing towns for money and cattle and who had contributed to the onset of the kidnapping crisis in Nigeria.

Due to the inadequacies of the nation’s local and state governments, which encourage crime, remote communities in the nation are frequently ungoverned. Lakurawa fighters were requested by the Sokoto community leaders to fight the bandits and defend the communities.

Between 2016 and 2017, Lakurawa members were compensated for their efforts in eradicating the bandit threat. However, the group’s members soon turned on communities, too. They got angry with a local leader who had invited them and murdered him.

Most Lakurawa fighters are believed to be between 18 and 50 and speak Fulfulde, Hausa, and Arabic, according to the think tank, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. The Fulani group, whose members are spread out throughout West Africa, is the main speaker.

The Nigerian military said it had identified some of the group’s leaders: Abu Khadijah, Abdulrahaman (Idi), Dadi Gumba, Muhammed Abu, Usman Shehu, Abu Yusuf, Musa Walia, Ibrahim Suyaka, Ba Sulhu, and Idris Taklakse.

What do they want?

In its announcement in November, the Nigerian military said Lakurawa’s motivation or ideology is unknown.

However, according to experts who have spoken with communities where the violence took place, the group claims to be seeking a caliphate and promotes its own version of Islam.

The organization is alleged to have imposed its own version of Islamic law in the areas in which they operate.

What have they done?

Lakurawa residents have been attacking towns in Nigeria and Niger. They are alleged to have a presence in several villages and collect cattle taxes there.

As a tactic to attract more followers and gain local support, the group is said to be distributing money, farm tools, fertiliser, seeds, and water pumping machines to needy locals. Some estimates put monetary compensation for new recruits at 1 million naira ($645), and about 10, 000 naira ($6) for local informants.

Villagers who don’t cooperate with the group’s leadership face threats and attacks. Lakurawa-related violence has left dozens dead. 15 people were killed in a recent attack on November 9 when the group raided the Mera community in Kebbi State, Nigeria.

How is Nigeria responding?

A coordinated and integrated response to Lakurawa has been hampered by tensions between Nigeria and Niger, which also gives the organization some leeway.

In July 2023, Nigeria, the current leader of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), seized control of the country by a military coup and detained former president Mohamed Bazoum for free.

Before Niger’s 2023 coup, both countries ‘ armies maintained joint border patrol operations. In 2020, it is thought that that action aided in the group’s dispersal.

However, amid the tensions that followed the coup, joint operations between the two countries were disrupted. About the same time, according to authorities in Nigeria, did the group’s members start attacking neighborhoods once more, profiting from the security gap created by the further division. Since then, joint border patrols have been resuming.

In late 2024, Nigeria launched operations against the group. Air strikes on suspected Lakurawa members in the northern states affected, as well as ground assaults on the group’s camps, have been carried out by the military.

After an airstrike on the group’s ammunition hideout in the Sokoto State towns of Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa caused secondary explosions, Nigeria’s military admitted in December that it had accidentally killed 10 civilians. According to an army spokesman, the group had a high concentration in the villages.

What about Niger?

It’s unclear which regions of Niger are impacted, and the country’s government has not made any official announcements about special operations targeting the group.

General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the military leader, claimed that Abuja and France were sponsoring the group’s attack on Niger in an interview with local reporters in December.

The country, a former colony of France, has fallen out with Paris over the 2023 coup. Similarly, Mali and Burkina Faso, which are also ruled by military governments, have fallen out with their former colonial leader, France.

Since, French President Emmanuel Macron has gotten closer to Nigeria’s leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, leading to the former allies accusing Abuja of colluding with their enemy.

Tchianni, in a December interview, said top Nigerian officials, including President Tinubu’s security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, were part of a plan to keep armed fighters in border communities in order to attack Niger.

“He knows about this but he has kept silent”, Tchiani said.

Source: Aljazeera