New African force set to take on Boko Haram soon: Nigerian president
The Nigerian president has announced the establishment of a multinational African force within 10 days to take on the Boko Haram terror group, vowing the force would defeat the Takfiri militants in less than 18 months.
Muhammadu Buhari further declared his government’s willingness to release captive Boko Haram terrorists in exchange for the freedom of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by the Takfiri militants only if he can find credible Boko Haram figures to deal with, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing an interview with the Nigerian head of state, who is in Washington for a state visit.
"I think Nigeria will make as much sacrifice as humanly possible to get the girls back. This is our main objective," Buhari emphasized, a day after holding official talks with US President Barack Obama.
Buhari, however, admitted that Nigerian authorities do not possess intelligence on the whereabouts of the girls (shown below) following their mass abduction from the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok in April 2014. Dozens of the schoolgirls fled captivity days after their kidnapping, but 219 of them still remain missing.
"We are going to deny them recruitment. We are going to deny them free movement across borders. We are going to deny them training. We are going to deny them receiving reinforcement in terms of equipment," Buhari underlined.
The Nigerian president, a former general who studied at the US Army War College, sacked the country’s military chiefs last week, accusing them of corruption. He, however, expressed confidence that the Takfiri militants, who have continued their deadly terror campaign since his inauguration, would be eliminated with the aid of neighboring Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger. He further added that the multinational force would be ready by the end of the month.
The Boko Haram terror campaign in the West African nation has killed about 15,000 people and displaced another 1.5 million from their homes.
In a related development on Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that a refugee camp deep inside Cameroon is receiving nearly 100 people fleeing the Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria on a daily basis.
UNHCR spokesman Leo Dobbs said families are leaving unstable and dangerous zones on the Nigeria-Cameroon border "and seeking shelter some 100 kilometers inland at the Minawao camp," which is run by the UN body and its partners.
The UN agency estimates that nearly 12,000 unregistered refugees are in northern Cameroon, while Cameroonian authorities put the figure at 17,000.
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