https://digivn.dw.com/view/250711-09-1272

((Suggested anchor lead: After years of relative calm, terror is resurging in Nigeria’s Northeast. Estimates suggest more people were killed in the first half of this year than during 2024 in total.  A resurgence of Islamist attacks is contributing to rising numbers. DW’s Fanny Facsar and her team travelled to Borno State, where Islamist armed group Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State of West African Province, short: ISWAP, are ramping up their offensives.)) 

Lower thirds:
0:03  Report by / Fanny Facsar
0:32  "Ali", former ISWAP commander 
1:24  Fanny Facsar, Senior International Correspondent in Maiduguri
1:47  Modu Ummate
2:25  Usman Tar, Commissioner for Information and Security in Borno State

Guión:
We are in Borno state, in the heartland of an insurgency primarily driven by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram and its rival faction: the Islamic State's West Africa Province or ISWAP. 
"Ali” - not his real name, says, he was a commander in ISWAP for almost a decade. Two years ago he left the Islamist group in an amnesty deal offered by the Nigerian government to reintegrate militants into society. But now he says he’s ready to take up arms again. 
OT "Ali", former ISWAP commander (male, Hausa) "The government promised us jobs. That was the agreement. I don't have anything: no food, no job. When we go back, we are going to attack, fight a war so we can eat and feed our families.” 
Ali is from Maiduguri, Borno’s capital city in Nigeria’s Northeast. After a few years of relative calm in the region, there has been a renewed spate of attacks. 
Vox  (female, Hausa) “Our husbands were killed because of attacks, children are growing up without their parents. We are scared of a resurgence of attacks”
1:08-1:22 
At least 12 people were killed and many injured in June outside of Maiduguri. A suspected female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a market.  All indications point to either Boko Haram or ISWAP as being behind the attack. 
PTC Fanny Facsar, Senior International Correspondent in Maiduguri (English) 
“While no group claimed responsibility for this bombing, there’s been a wave of recent Islamist attacks in Nigeria’s Northeast – especially here in Borno state including attacks on military outposts and civilians” 
Modu Ummate survived a roadside bomb a few months ago on the way to his farmland – he lost one of his legs in the explosion. 
SOT Modu Ummate, (Hausa) "I am scared. Eight people were killed that day. The military is not doing enough. Everyone was relaxed because it had been peaceful, but that was negligence, the military wasn’t pursuing the militants. That's why they are strong again" 
Nigeria’s military has been stretched thin, confronted with multiple flash points across the country. And reintegration projects like the one here are important. But Borno's State Commissioner admits that the program is not perfect.    
SOT Usman Tar, Commissioner for Information and Security in Borno State (English)  
"Reintegration is work in progress. Not everything what former insurgents want, will be given to them. We have the victims to deal with. If we over-resource the insurgents, the victims will say: what about us?" 
But experts warn: tackling terrorism won’t work without addressing poverty and unemployment.   
“If we are not taken care of, if the government doesn’t deliver, the attacks will escalate. It will not end.” 
Ali claims, he doesn’t believe in ISWAP’s ideology anymore, but he’s still planning to rejoin the terrorist group. Many, he says, who surrendered with him, are ready to follow suit.