Boko Haram fighters killed nearly two dozen Soldiers in early May when they attacked a Chadian military base on an island in Lake Chad. The attack is the latest reminder that militaries must adapt their tactics to stay ahead of terrorists operating in the region, according to analysts.
The “MNJTF [Multinational Joint Task Force] must step up its tactical and technological efforts and, above all, engage more consistently to continue weakening the factions and ensure stabilisation to facilitate support for affected communities,” researchers with South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS) wrote in a recent report.
In recent years, Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have been pushed out of population centers in the region shared by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. The groups have taken refuge amid the islands, swamps and forests of Lake Chad, where they have fought a turf war for control of territory.
Civilians, many of whom struggle to make a living by fishing in the lake, often find themselves caught in the middle.
For more than a decade, the MNJTF, composed of Soldiers from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, has been a bulwark against Boko Haram and ISWAP around Lake Chad. The task force has played a crucial role in bringing more stability to the region through a mix of “non-kinetic and kinetic tracks,” according to ISS researchers.
“The MNJTF has achieved significant results, notably reducing the militant group’s territorial control to levels not seen in 2014 and 2015,” analysts wrote in a recent report.
Despite those successes, the MNJTF has had to compensate for the loss of Niger, which withdrew from the effort in 2025, leaving a gap around the Diffa region.
Niger’s ruling junta said at the time that it was redeploying those forces to protect its oil pipeline to Benin, which remains under continual attack from terror groups. However, the withdrawal also reflected tensions between Niger and Nigeria after the coup that brought Niger’s rulers to power in 2023.
“This withdrawal underscores the broader challenges facing regional anti-terrorism efforts: insufficient collaboration among nations to counter a transnational threat, compounded by conflicting national interests,” researchers with African Security Analysis wrote at the time.
Furthermore. the Nigerien junta’s decision to leave the Economic Community of West African States along with Burkina Faso and Mali disrupted regional intelligence-sharing networks and military cooperation.
Boko Haram’s attacks on Chadian military outposts also caused leaders in that country to question their continued participation in the MNJTF.
The MNJTF’s last major regional operation, “Lake Sanity 2,” happened in 2024. Since then, Boko Haram and ISWAP have recruited new members and regained strength, which they have demonstrated by attacking military bases in the region even as they fight each other for territory and expand their reach beyond the Lake Chad Basin.
At the same time, ISWAP has become more proficient in the use of drones for intelligence-gathering and as flying improvised explosive devices against military targets.
Maintaining the upper hand against Boko Haram and ISWAP will require nations in the Lake Chad Basin to improve their communication, cooperation and technological capacities, according to ISS analysts.
That means putting aside political differences, such as those creating tension between Niger and Nigeria, perhaps with the help of the African Union, they added.
“With clear danger looming, LCBC [Lake Chad Basin Commission] states must renew their political commitment and ease internal tensions to restore MNJTF’s regionality,” ISS researchers wrote.
