West Africa may join forces to combat Boko Haram

ACCRA/YAOUNDE: West African leaders are considering creating a military force to fight Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist militants and will hold a regional summit next week to discuss the issue, according to Ghana’s President John Mahama.

Regional bloc Ecowas will seek the support of the AU for its plans, said Mahama.

“Nigeria is taking military action and Cameroon is fighting Boko Haram, but I think we are increasingly getting to the point where probably a regional or a multinational force is coming into consideration,” Mahama, who chairs Ecowas, said yesterday.

“It is what we want to discuss at the AU because, if that must happen, there must be a mandate to allow such a force to operate,” he said.

Meanwhile Chadian military equipment was being transported to neighbouring Cameroon in support of its fight against Boko Haram, a Cameroonian defence ministry spokesman said. A first contingent of soldiers will leave today, Didier Badjeck confirmed.

Yesterday the Chadian parliament unanimously approved the dispatch of troops to Cameroon, Radio France Internationale reported.

Cameroon had already announced the decision on Thursday, with Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary thanking N’Djamena for the “fraternal gesture” and praising the “bravery” of the Chadian army.

A French-led initiative has called for Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad to contribute 700 troops each to a multinational force against Boko Haram, but the plan had not been implemented so far.

Negotiations between Chad and Cameroon intensified after Boko Haram started crossing Lake Chad to enter Cameroon, killing fishermen, according to Badjeck.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya had earlier appealed for international help, referring to Boko Haram as a “global threat that requires a global solution”.

Cameroon said this week it had killed 143 Boko Haram fighters in what it described as the biggest defeat it had inflicted on the group so far.

The country has faced constant attacks by Boko Haram, which crosses the border from Nigeria into its Far North region. – Sapa-dpa and Reuters

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