 |
| 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
No comments:
Post a Comment