Central African Leaders Rally Africa Against Boko Haram

Help and co-operation from a wider spectrum of African leaders are coming the way of Nigeria in the fight against terrorism as Central African Leaders, under the aegis of the Economic Community of Central African Countries (ECCAC), on Monday resolved to cooperate with their West African counterparts in the war against the ravaging insurgents, Boko Haram. A multi-regional force, essentially made up of troops from Niger, Cameroun and Chad, have collaborated in recent times in the battle to exterminate the Boko Haram insurgency terrorising the region. President Denis Sassou N’Guesso of the Republic of Congo and his Republic of Equatorial Guinea counterpart, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, were all in Abuja on Monday and held a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, where insurgency and Ebola topped the agenda. This is as the troops battling the terrorists in the North-east are recording increased successes with the arrest of a terrorist who disguised as a woman and nestled himself among the people returning to the recovered communities. Briefing State House correspondents after the Abuja meeting, N’Guesso said Africa was facing the twin challenge of Boko Haram and Ebola. He said the ECCAC was committed to tackling the menace “As we know, Africa is confronting two challenges. Significantly, Ebola is affecting basically countries in West Africa.  These countries are: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Also, the operations of the terrorists generally in the sub-Saharan Africa and in northern Africa, particularly Boko Haram, have been affecting Nigeria, Chad and Cameroun. Like you know, at the last meeting of the Africa Union (AU), the Heads of State took some very important decisions principally to check the Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroun and Chad. Following the meeting of the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African Countries had a meeting recently in Yaoundé to address particularly the Boko Haram challenge in Africa and to see the possibility of ameliorating the grave situation.” He expressed the hope that they would collectively utilise all political, military and diplomatic actions and mobilise all efforts on all fronts to defeat and eradicate Boko Haram. In the same vein, the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Ashrat Salama, has called on Nigeria and the Africa Union (AU) to collaborate against the terrorist group, Islamic State and ensure the establishment of a multi-national force against it. This, he said, is necessary to ensure that the terrorist group does not spread on the continent. Speaking against the backdrop of air strikes recently carried out on IS targets in Libya by the Egyptian Air Force, Salama told journalists in Abuja monday that contrary to the propaganda by IS, no civilian was killed in the offensive. Egypt carried out the offensive on IS training schools and ammunition storage in Libya in retaliation for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by the group. Salama particularly noted that it was necessary for Nigeria to work with Egypt to combat the terrorist group because both nations are not far from each other. 

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