London to Host Meeting on Boko Haram
June 9, 2014 International
Aminu Basher Wali
Herald Reporter/ Agencies
Nigeria’s foreign minister Aminu Bashir Wali together with his counterparts from Chad, Benin, Cameroon and Niger will this week attend a meeting in the British capital, London to discuss issues surrounding the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The June 12 meeting will be held on the sidelines of the World Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict. Officials from France, the United States, Canada and the European Union are also set to attend the meeting.
The UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is hosting this “London Ministerial on Security in Northern Nigeria”. As well as taking forward agreements made in Paris, the meeting will consider what more can be done to improve regional coordination, and on economic and social development to counter the threat of Boko Haram.
In a statement issued last week by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hague said, “Since the appalling abductions of over 200 school girls in Chibok by Boko Haram, the international community has worked together closely to support Nigeria in the fight against terrorism. We have already reached agreements on intelligence sharing; coordinated border patrols; developing a regional counter terrorism strategy; and wider action, including supporting the victims of sexual violence and the empowerment of women and girls. This co-ordinated action has sent a powerful message of intent.
“The London Ministerial on Security in Northern Nigeria will build on these agreements and consider further options to combat terrorism in Northern Nigeria. This shows the determination of those in the region, with the support of the international community, to defeat Boko Haram. We continue to work through our close international co-ordination on the ground in Nigeria to help secure the release of the abducted school girls.”
The London meeting will be the second such meeting since the abduction of close to 300 school girls in Chibok in Borno State, northeast Nigeria on April 14.
The first meeting of heads of state and government from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin was convened by French President Francois Holllande in Paris on May 17.
At the Paris Summit, the West African leaders agreed to work together and wage “total war” on Boko Haram saying the Nigerian Islamist group had become a regional Al-Qaeda that threatened all of them.
There is widespread criticism on the continent since it appears as though Western governments have hijacked the handling of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame last month challenged his counterparts to take responsibility and accept their failure in solving conflicts that have ravaged the continent for decades.
Contributing to a panel discussion on ending conflict in Africa at the African Development Bank’s annual meeting, President Kagame said African leaders should work together and solve their own problems without seeking help from European countries.
“I think we must take responsibility and accept our failures in dealing with these matters,” said President Kagame.
“When I am watching television and I find that our leaders, who should have been working together all along to address these problems that only affect their countries, wait until they are invited to go to Europe to sit there and find solutions to their problems … it’s as if they are made to sit down and address their problems,” Kagame said.
“Why does anybody wait for that? In fact, the image it gives is that we are not there to address these problems … they are (African leaders) happy to sit in Paris with the President of France and just talk about their problems,” said Kagame.
“It doesn’t make sense that our leaders cannot get themselves together to address problems affecting our people,” added Kagame.
Kagame said African leaders do not need to be invited by outsiders to go and address their domestic problems.
“African leaders, we don’t need to be invited anywhere to go and address our problems, without first inviting ourselves to come together to tell each other the actual truth we must tell each other,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is almost eight weeks since the girls disappeared, and six weeks since the United States, Britain, France and China offered to assist the Nigerian authorities, but nothing has so far materialised.
Despite the international outcry for the release of the school girls, the imposition of sanctions by the United Nations Security Council, Boko Haram’s violent acts have drastically escalated with hundreds of innocent civilians and military personnel being killed on a daily basis after the Paris meeting.
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| Nigerian leaders to attend conference in London. |
Aminu Basher Wali
Herald Reporter/ Agencies
Nigeria’s foreign minister Aminu Bashir Wali together with his counterparts from Chad, Benin, Cameroon and Niger will this week attend a meeting in the British capital, London to discuss issues surrounding the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The June 12 meeting will be held on the sidelines of the World Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict. Officials from France, the United States, Canada and the European Union are also set to attend the meeting.
The UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is hosting this “London Ministerial on Security in Northern Nigeria”. As well as taking forward agreements made in Paris, the meeting will consider what more can be done to improve regional coordination, and on economic and social development to counter the threat of Boko Haram.
In a statement issued last week by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hague said, “Since the appalling abductions of over 200 school girls in Chibok by Boko Haram, the international community has worked together closely to support Nigeria in the fight against terrorism. We have already reached agreements on intelligence sharing; coordinated border patrols; developing a regional counter terrorism strategy; and wider action, including supporting the victims of sexual violence and the empowerment of women and girls. This co-ordinated action has sent a powerful message of intent.
“The London Ministerial on Security in Northern Nigeria will build on these agreements and consider further options to combat terrorism in Northern Nigeria. This shows the determination of those in the region, with the support of the international community, to defeat Boko Haram. We continue to work through our close international co-ordination on the ground in Nigeria to help secure the release of the abducted school girls.”
The London meeting will be the second such meeting since the abduction of close to 300 school girls in Chibok in Borno State, northeast Nigeria on April 14.
The first meeting of heads of state and government from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin was convened by French President Francois Holllande in Paris on May 17.
At the Paris Summit, the West African leaders agreed to work together and wage “total war” on Boko Haram saying the Nigerian Islamist group had become a regional Al-Qaeda that threatened all of them.
There is widespread criticism on the continent since it appears as though Western governments have hijacked the handling of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame last month challenged his counterparts to take responsibility and accept their failure in solving conflicts that have ravaged the continent for decades.
Contributing to a panel discussion on ending conflict in Africa at the African Development Bank’s annual meeting, President Kagame said African leaders should work together and solve their own problems without seeking help from European countries.
“I think we must take responsibility and accept our failures in dealing with these matters,” said President Kagame.
“When I am watching television and I find that our leaders, who should have been working together all along to address these problems that only affect their countries, wait until they are invited to go to Europe to sit there and find solutions to their problems … it’s as if they are made to sit down and address their problems,” Kagame said.
“Why does anybody wait for that? In fact, the image it gives is that we are not there to address these problems … they are (African leaders) happy to sit in Paris with the President of France and just talk about their problems,” said Kagame.
“It doesn’t make sense that our leaders cannot get themselves together to address problems affecting our people,” added Kagame.
Kagame said African leaders do not need to be invited by outsiders to go and address their domestic problems.
“African leaders, we don’t need to be invited anywhere to go and address our problems, without first inviting ourselves to come together to tell each other the actual truth we must tell each other,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is almost eight weeks since the girls disappeared, and six weeks since the United States, Britain, France and China offered to assist the Nigerian authorities, but nothing has so far materialised.
Despite the international outcry for the release of the school girls, the imposition of sanctions by the United Nations Security Council, Boko Haram’s violent acts have drastically escalated with hundreds of innocent civilians and military personnel being killed on a daily basis after the Paris meeting.
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