Boko Haram is indeed weakened, but the government and its international partners must urgently block its capacity and opportunity to regenerate. This will require a shift from a "search and destroy" military mindset to a more multifaceted approach that prioritises civilian protection and engagement, genuine collaboration with regional neighbours, and international cooperation to cut the group's financial lifelines. Only then can the much bigger task of economic revitalisation and recovery fully begin. The hard part is still ahead.
Boko Haram militants launched a brutal assault on three villages just outside of the Borno State capital of Maiduguri on Saturday, fire-bombing houses, detonating improvised explosives and suicide vests, and leaving an estimated 85 to 100 people dead. Assailants reportedly seized food and livestock before torching the villages of Dalori, Walori, and Kofa. Military guards foiled an attempt to penetrate the nearby Dalori camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), which houses some 22,000 people, among them 8,000 children, most of whom were rescued last year from Boko Haram–held towns.
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