More help needed to defeat Boko Haram, rebuild, summit told

ABUJA, Nigeria – Regional and Western powers were on Saturday, May 14, urged to do more to stop the threat from Boko Haram, as the UN voiced concern about the militants’ ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group and threat to African security.

Nigeria invited leaders of its neighbors Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger to Abuja, whose troops will be deployed as part of a much-delayed 8,500-member regional force to combat the Islamists.

But delegates – including French President Francois Hollande – were told that despite major gains since the last security summit two years ago in Paris, more is needed to be done to eradicate Boko Haram and tackle the root causes of extremism.

The final communique said a “global approach” was required, comprising hard and soft power, to end the threat.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond characterized the fight against extremist ideology as “a generational struggle against an evil that will destroy us if we do not destroy it.”

“We must sustain this fight until evil is defeated and good prevails,” he told the gathering, calling for countries affected to win the “hearts and minds of those terrorised by Boko Haram”.

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said respect for human rights was essential, after repeated accusations of military abuses against civilians and Boko Haram suspects.

He warned that not addressing the drivers of extremism – poverty, deprivation, lack of opportunity and education – would create “Boko Haram 2.0” even if the group were defeated militarily.

ISIS links

Nearly 7 years of violence in northeast Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead and displaced more than 2.6 million people in one of the world’s most brutal conflicts.

The United Nations Security Council on Friday expressed “deep concern” at Boko Haram’s threat to security in West and Central Africa and “alarm at…linkages with the Islamic State,” which operates in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Boko Haram’s shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to his IS counterpart Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last year, although there has since been little evidence of direct support on the ground.

Chad’s President Idriss Deby highlighted the threat from Libya, which has long been seen as a source for arms and explosives smuggled into the Sahel region and which is facing multiple threats from jihadist groups.

Boko Haram fighters are reported to be in Libya, raising concerns about their possible return.

France’s Hollande said because of Boko Haram’s links to IS and its status as “the world’s deadliest terrorist group,” it “remains a threat” and no-one should drop its guard.

After controlling territory in northeast Nigeria the size of Belgium in 2014, Boko Haram has been pushed back in the last 15 months to remote border areas on and around Lake Chad, whose waters form the border between Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The new, regional Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), which has African Union backing and is based in Chad’s capital N’Djamena under a Nigerian general, was supposed to have deployed last July.

Plugging gaps and improving coordination between armies that are currently operating largely independently is seen as vital when it is eventually deployed, as the region’s borders are notoriously porous.

‘Food crisis’

Western powers in particular have indicated more confidence in Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s government than the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan, offering training, intelligence-sharing and equipment.

Britain has committed nearly £40 million ($58 million, 51 million euros) to “counter and counter-extremism support” over the next four years.

The EU has contributed 50 million euros to the MNJTF, said the bloc’s top diplomat Frederica Mogherini.

But Buhari said an estimated 960 million euros was required for short- and medium-term development in the Lake Chad region.

US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who visited northeast Nigeria and northern Cameroon last month, said 9.2 million people in the wider region were affected by the conflict.

Hollande said France last year gave 17 million euros in aid and it was “vital that the international community does more,” announcing the creation of a specific “Lake Chad Initiative” through his country’s development agency.

Two million internally displaced Nigerians are currently living in host communities or camps, with little prospect of an immediate return to their homes.

Homes, businesses, schools, medical facilities, government offices, power and telecommunications infrastructure, water sources and land in the mainly agricultural region have all been destroyed or damaged in the fighting.

The government of Nigeria’s Borno state – the worst-hit by the violence – has said the displaced face a “food crisis” and $5.9 billion was needed to rebuild shattered infrastructure. – Rappler.com