Talks on regional fight against Boko Haram open in Niger

A regional summit opened in Niger Tuesday aimed at
stopping Boko Haram as the Islamist insurgents step up
attacks both inside Nigeria and in neighbouring
countries.
"The increase in strength of Boko Haram reflects our
slowness and our inability to put up a robust response,"
Niger's Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum said at the
talks in Niamey.
"We are watching, as was the case in Mali, the loss of
sovereignty in Nigeria over large tracts of its territory
and the exporting of the violence to neighbouring
countries."
Ministers from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin
and Equatorial Guinea were due to attend, along with
representatives from the US, the European Union, China
and several other countries.
Leaders from Ghana and Chad have called for a unified
effort in confronting the Islamist militants, whose
insurgency has left 13,000 dead and forced 1.5 million
from their homes since 2009.
Chad sent a convoy of troops and 400 military vehicles
on Saturday into neighbouring Cameroon to fight Boko
Haram, with Nigeria's army widely criticised for failing
to crush the militants.
Deteriorating situation –
A Boko Haram assault this month on the town of Baga
on the shores of Lake Chad triggered widespread
outrage and helped spur a regional response.
Amnesty International described the attack, which is
believed to have killed hundreds of people, as "the
biggest and most destructive" yet by the armed
fundamentalists.
Authorities said Tuesday hundreds of people have fled
villages near Baga after Boko Haram told them to leave
or be killed.
As the talks opened, Nigeria's ambassador to Niger
chastised his country's neighbours for pulling their
forces out of Baga ahead of the assault.
"I note, with consternation, the withdrawal of the
military forces from Chad and Niger without prior
consultation," Ambassador Aliou Issa Sokoto said.
"One might have expected that we were consulted in an
adequate manner before the decision to pull out," he
added.
Cameroon has also seen repeated attacks recently,
including the kidnapping of dozens of people, mostly
women and children, during a deadly attack on Sunday.
"The security situation in Nigeria and in the Lake Chad
basin has deteriorated considerably," Bazoum told the
Niamey meeting, adding that the fall of Baga showed
that the sect has "more and more substantial resources"
and firepower.
Chad's President Idriss Deby, who backs a regional
effort, last week announced his determination to
recapture Baga, a strategic area on Lake Chad where the
borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria converge.
For Bazoum, Chad's military intervention was "the most
significant positive development" in regional efforts to
tackle Boko Haram. A previous plan for joint operations
has barely got off the ground.
However, Cameroon's Communications Minister Issa
Tchiroma Bakary said it would take time to coordinate
Cameroonian and Chadian troops.
"Don't expect to start seeing the results of that
tomorrow," he warn
Courtesy: vanguard news
Broadcast by Obele Calistus