The Ethiopians have done better, alongside a proxy force of Sufi Somalis known as the Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa (the Majority) or ASWJ, which now controls a wedge of land along the Ethiopian border.

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Virtually all of these scholars agree that Muslim societies must accept Allah as the sovereign power and struggle to abide strictly by Shariah law as exemplified in the Sunna (the life, words and deeds of the Prophet).

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One of the hostages in the video said his captors were "Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad" - the official name for Boko Haram, as the Islamist group is popularly known in Nigeria.

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