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| President Goodluck Jonathan. Photo: google.com |
President Goodluck Jonathan, facing a mounting Islamist insurgency at
home, will discuss ways of tackling militancy across the continent with
African heads of state while in South Africa, his spokesman said.
The meeting follows warnings from Nigeria and its neighbours that
Boko Haram – which has killed thousands of Nigerians during its
five-year-old insurgency, and last month kidnapped more than 200
schoolgirls – now threatens the security of the region.
Leaders from every corner of the continent would meet before South
African President Jacob Zuma’s inauguration on Saturday to “focus on
collective action to effectively roll back the scourge of terrorism in
Africa,” Reuben Abati said.
As well as Boko Haram, regional and world powers are increasingly
worried about the growing reach of groups such as al-Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb and Somalia’s al Shabaab, which has attacked Uganda and
Kenya and this week threatened to unleash teenage suicide bombers in
Nairobi, Reuters reports.
Security experts said cross-border intelligence sharing between countries threatened by militant groups is woefully weak.
Jonathan and the military have been criticised in Nigeria for the
slowness of their reaction to the mass abduction, which took place in
the remote northeastern village of Chibok, near the borders of Cameroon
and Chad.
Nigeria accepted help from the United States, Britain, France and
China last week and around 80 U.S. troops were arriving in Chad to start
a mission to try to free the schoolgirls.
Source: thenationonlineng.net
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