In 2014 Boko Haram has greatly expanded its operations in Nigeria, its primary target and base. National security officials expect an intensification of attacks in the run-up to national elections in February 2015.
While Boko Haram has been primarily operating in Nigeria, it has also undertaken limited operations across the country's borders and maintained and established contacts with associates in the region, in particular in Niger and Chad. Regional and international attacks on jihadist groups in Mali and Somalia appear to have disrupted Boko Haram's ties with these groups. States in the region have established a regional security framework designed to confront the group militarily, with French and other Western support.
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan portrays Boko Haram as a regional al-Qa’ida operation linked with international jihadist terrorism networks, but ll the indications are that the group remains a predominantly Nigerian issue, and political and security solutions need to be found domestically. International responses need to be cognisant of the specific national context in which the threat from Boko Haram has emerged in order not to risk further regionalisation of the conflict.
