April 17, 2016
Phil Hazlewood, journalist with AFP, asked Yan St-Pierre about the “Impact on Boko Haram, which is unclear after splinter group leader held“.
Yan St-Pierre, from the Modern Security Consulting group, however, said Barnawi, who trained in Sudan, Afghanistan and with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Algeria, was “influential”. But he was “only one” part of a disparate organisation. His arrest “should not change much in terms of Ansaru’s terrorist activities”, St-Pierre said, as the group has not carried out many operations since 2013. “Where things could change however is in the recent openings some Boko Haram-affiliated groups have made to AQIM in the last few months, and Khalid al-Barnawi was a huge part of that,” he said. “His arrest will affect the dynamic of the discussions between AQIM and those he represented” at a time when the Nigerian militants were reaching out to jihadists further afield.
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“The last thing they (the authorities) want to do is to make him (Barnawi) a ‘martyr’ that could play into Boko Haram’s hands, which is something they exploit very well,” said St-Pierre.
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