Boko Haram militants were unable to disrupt Nigeria's presidential election, a United Nations envoy said on Monday, but the group's allegiance to Islamic State insurgents shows it has an agenda that goes beyond Africa's top oil producer and biggest economy.
Boko Haram, which has killed thousands and displaced some 1.5 million people during a six-year campaign to carve out an Islamist emirate, committed itself this month to Islamic State, which controls swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.
"Boko Haram's recent allegiance to the Islamic State whether for publicity reasons or to tap into ISIS's support, is of concern as it is gives a clear signal that Boko Haram's agenda goes well beyond Nigeria," Mohammed Ibn Chambas, U.N. envoy for West Africa, told the U.N. Security Council.
Results from the election, potentially the closest contest since the end of military rule in 1999, were due to start trickling in on Monday.
"Schools in northeast Nigeria are no longer safe places of learning, as many of them continue to be attacked, looted, and destroyed.
"We have also observed an alarming trend of children being used by the group as human shields," he said.
"The escalation of Boko Haram-related violence in the region continues to hinder access to people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance," deputy U.N. aid chief Kyung-Wha Kangtold the council.
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