Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader Abu Musab Abd al-Wadoud told Al Jazeera on June 14 that his group has been talking to Nigerian Islamist movement Boko Haram and intends to supply it with weapons to "defend Muslims in Nigeria and stop the advance of a minority of Crusaders." He said al Qaeda has an interest in sub-Saharan Africa for "its strategic depth that would give it a bigger scope for maneuvers." While AQIM is primarily based in Algeria, focusing its attacks on security forces around the capital, Algiers, al-Wadoud has issued previous statements similarly promoting the expansion of al Qaeda in West Africa. After the August 2008 coup in Mauritania, the AQIM leader issued a call to arms that largely fell flat.