At least 65 soldiers—including three senior officers—have been killed in jihadist raids on military garrisons in Nigeria's northeast this month. Five bases were overrun by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)—four of them in a single night March 5-6, showing a notable level of coordination. Military equipment was also torched or captured, including armored vehicles. ISWAP's "Burn the Camps" offensive began last year, and is accelerating against an overstretched military. (TNH)

A military drone strike in western Niger killed at least 17 civilians, including four children, and injured at least 13 others when it hit a crowded market on Jan. 6, according to an investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released Feb. 9.

With his Christmas air-strikes on Nigeria, Trump is blundering into a conflict fundamentally driven by desertification related to the very climate change that he denies, and which now threatens democratic rule throughout the West African region. And while the Muslim-Christian sectarian strife that Trump hypes is a large element of the situation, the violence has gone both ways—and also targeted Muslim minorities such as Shi'ites, and even indigenous Jews. Furthermore, making Christians the perceived beneficiaries of imperialist intervention is only likely to exacerbate the tensions and make Christians more of a target. In Episode 310 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes an in-depth and unsparing look. 

Following through on threats made last month, President Donald Trump announced Dec. 25 that he had ordered air-strikes against Islamic State targets in Nigeria, ostensibly in retaliation for the group's targeting of Christian communities.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Dec. 9 announced a regional state of emergency following a wave of coups and attempted coups that have destabilized several member states of the regional bloc. The declaration was made during the 55th session of the ECOWAS Mediation & Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, by the president of the bloc, Gambian diplomat Omar Touray.

US President Donald Trump on Nov. 1 said that he has ordered the Pentagon, or the "Department of War," to prepare contingency plans for potential military action in Nigeria. Trump alleged that the Nigerian government has failed to protect Christian communities from violent extremist attacks.

Amnesty International on June 13 said that the Nigerian government's pardon for the Ogoni Nine falls "far short of real justice." The rights group published the statement in response to the government's decision two days earlier to posthumously exonerate the Nine.

The so-called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgent group has launched its most successful military campaign to date in northeast Nigeria's Lake Chad Basin region. Throughout May, ISWAP raided a series of supposedly impenetrable army bases, forcing the military's withdrawal and the displacement of civilian communities—some of whom had been recently resettled by the Borno State government following its closure of internally displaced persons camps in the state capital, Maiduguri.