West African leaders have agreed to join forces in “total war” against the Nigerian Islamist militant group holding 200 schoolgirls, saying Boko Haram had become a regional al Qaeda.
Meeting in Paris, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his counterparts from Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger approved an action plan to counter an organisation that has been blamed for 2000 deaths this year as well the kidnapping of the schoolgirls.
The Paris summit was attended by Hollande, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, and their counterparts from Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Hollande said participants had agreed on a ‘global and regional action plan,’ which involved ‘co-ordinating intelligence, sharing information, border surveillance, a military presence notably around Lake Chad and the capacity to intervene in case of danger,’ the report said.
Cameroon’s President Paul Biya said that they were here to declare war on Boko Haram.
Idriss Deby of Chad said it would be ‘total war’.
Earlier, Hollande called Boko Haram a ‘major threat to West and Central Africa’.
Agencies/Canadajournal
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