Nigeria and 4 neighboring countries declare war on Boko Haram

Nigeria and its four neighboring countries have joined hands and declared war against the terrorist group Boko Haram. The collation will be supported by France, the U.S. and UK, to help to rescue more than 200 girls abducted by this organization.

That was the main conclusion of the summit convened in Paris by French President François Hollande, with its five counterparts from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Togo and Benin, in addition to the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political Affairs of the United States, Wendy Sherman.

The mini-summit was convened after the concern in the world by the abduction of 200 girls, but the initiatives have the medium and long term  objectives, according to its makers. It is coordinating joint strategies, exchange information and coordinate actions to combat the terrorist group.

The kidnapping of over 200 girls by Boko Haram leader have brought to light a group that participants in the meeting agreed to call “global threat” to the continent and, by extension, for the entire world.

The president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, so far reluctant to internationalize the issue, did not hesitate in considering Saturday as Boko Haram Al Qaeda franchise in West Africa, a mutation that, he said, began operation in 2009.

The French president has gone further to confirm links Boko Haram with all the terrorist organizations of the continent and its danger of contagion to other areas. Hollande has said the group manages a very sophisticated weaponry, from the collapse of the Libyan regime, and that its members were trained in northern Mali when the region was under the control of terrorist groups.

To illustrate that Boko Haram no longer a purely Nigerian group, the Cameroonian President Paul Biya, recalled that his country soldier died Friday night as the victim of a terrorist action of this group on a Chinese oil installation.

“We will step up the fight against this group,” said Biya, so far persisted in regarding as a Nigerian Boko Haram problem and limited their cooperation to border disputes with both countries. Cameroon’s president has said that the action of the terrorist group alienates investors and slowing international cooperation and economic development in the region.

In this regard, President of Niger, Mahamadu Isufu, has indicated that the main ally of terrorism ” is poverty “, so requested that military and police actions against the group are accompanied by development aid.

His counterpart from Benin, Thomas Boni Yayi has called for the impact of the abduction of girls take to sensitize the international community to the danger posed by Boko Haram. And it has added a warning about the religious dimension of this group and has requested that he fights for ” the triumph of secularism ” in that region of the world.

The president of Chad, Idriss Déby, affected by the south by the Boko Haram group and north by AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), said that if he is not stopped in time, “Terrorism threatens the gangrenar region “and” destabilize the entire continent. ” ” If we let them succeed obscurantism imposed. We must fight them with perfect timing,” he underlined.

The joint statement adopted in Paris calls for the establishment of coordinated patrols to combat Boko Haram, information sharing and joint border surveillance. Often, activists of this group act in one country and flee to a neighboring mocking local authorities.

More profoundly, the five countries agreed to share intelligence data and establish a team together to fight Boko Haram.

These actions will have the experience and technical resources of France, United States and United Kingdom, which already cooperate with technicians in search of more than 200 abducted girls.

In addition, participants pledged that Boko Haram may be subject to international sanctions on the same level as it is now Al Qaeda.

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Posted by Khalil Khan on May 20 2014. Filed under Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.