2015 West African offensive

2015 West African offensive
Part of the Boko Haram insurgency

Boko Haram's territorial control prior to the offensive.
Date23 January – 24 December 2015
(11 months and 1 day)
Location
Northeast Nigeria, Northern Cameroon, Southeast Niger, Western Chad[8]
Result

Multinational Joint Task Force victory

Belligerents

Multinational Joint Task Force

Local militias[4]

STTEP (foreign mercenaries)[5][6]

Islamic State ISIL

Commanders and leaders

Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari (from May 2015)
Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan (until May 2015)
Nigeria Kashim Shettima
Nigeria Isa Yuguda (until May 2015)
Nigeria Lamidi Adeosun
Nigeria Eeben Barlow[5]
Cameroon Paul Biya
Chad Idriss Déby

Niger Mahamadou Issoufou

Islamic State Abubakar Shekau

Islamic State Abu Musab al-Barnawi
Strength

Nigerian Army:
130,000 active frontline personnel;
32,000 active reserve personnel
Nigeria Police Force:
371,800 officers
Multinational Joint Task Force:
7,500 active personnel[9]
(excluding Cameroon and Nigeria)
Cameroonian Armed Forces:
20,000 active personnel

United States 300 advisers[10][11]		 ISIL: 7,000–10,000[12]

Starting in late January 2015, a coalition of West African troops launched an offensive against the Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria.

  1. ^ Faced with Boko Haram, Cameroon weighs death penalty for terrorism. By Tansa Musa, Reuters. YAOUNDE Wed Dec 3, 2014 9:56am EST.
  2. ^ Chad armoured column heads for Cameroon to fight Boko Haram. AFP for Yahoo! News, January 16, 2015 4:54 PM.
  3. ^ West Africa leaders vow to wage 'total war' on Boko Haram By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau. 17 May 2014 2:19 PM.
  4. ^ "Vigilantes Settle Local Scores With Boko Haram". Voice of America. 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  5. ^ a b Colin Freeman (10 May 2015). "South African mercenaries' secret war on Boko Haram". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  6. ^ Adama Nossiter (12 March 2015). "Mercenaries Join Nigeria's Military Campaign Against Boko Haram". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Boko Haram swears formal allegiance to ISIS". Fox News. Associated Press. March 8, 2015. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  8. ^ The Christian Science Monitor. "Boko Haram escalates battle with bold move into Chad (+video)". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  9. ^ The African Union Readies an Army to Fight Boko Haram, Medium.com.
  10. ^ "Obama to deploy 300 US troops to Cameroon to fight Boko Haram | World news". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  11. ^ "US troops deployed to Cameroon for Boko Haram fight". Al Jazeera English. 2015-10-14. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  12. ^ "How Big Is Boko Haram?". 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.