Entertainment Africa
- Troops nab terrorist disguised as woman
- Air bombardment intensifies
- More weapons recovered from searches
- Egypt seeks Nigeria, AU collaboration against IS
Jaiyeola Andrews, Senator Iroegbu and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja
Help and co-operation from a wider spectrum of African leaders are coming the way of Nigeria in the fight against terrorism as Central African Leaders, under the aegis of the Economic Community of Central African Countries (ECCAC), on Monday resolved to cooperate with their West African counterparts in the war against the ravaging insurgents, Boko Haram.
A multi-regional force, essentially made up of troops from Niger, Cameroun and Chad, have collaborated in recent times in the battle to exterminate the Boko Haram insurgency terrorising the region.
President Denis Sassou N’Guesso of the Republic of Congo and his Republic of Equatorial Guinea counterpart, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, were all in Abuja on Monday and held a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, where insurgency and Ebola topped the agenda.
This is as the troops battling the terrorists in the North-east are recording increased successes with the arrest of a terrorist who disguised as a woman and nestled himself among the people returning to the recovered communities.
Briefing State House correspondents after the Abuja meeting, N’Guesso said Africa was facing the twin challenge of Boko Haram and Ebola.
He said the ECCAC leadership was committed to tackling the menace
“As we know, Africa is confronting two challenges. Significantly, Ebola is affecting basically countries in West Africa. These countries are: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
“Also, the operations of the terrorists generally in the sub-Saharan Africa and in northern Africa, particularly Boko Haram, have been affecting Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.
“Like you know, at the last meeting of the Africa Union (AU), the Heads of State took some very important decisions principally to check the Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
“Following the meeting of the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African Countries had a meeting recently in Yaoundé to address particularly the Boko Haram challenge in Africa and to see the possibility of ameliorating the grave situation. It’s on that platform that we met with our friend President Jonathan of Nigeria.
“We are here because we have been mandated by the Heads of State of the Central African community to bring here, and show our solidarity to the people and government of Nigeria, and to our brother and friend, President Jonathan,” he stressed.
N’Guesso added that they would head to Accra, Ghana, to meet with President John Mahama, who is the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“We will study the situation together and put in place a security architecture to see how we can coordinate all our actions to put out and eradicate the Boko Haram, which has been spreading in a very grave manner. We look forward to peace, security and development in Africa,” he noted.
He expressed the hope that they would collectively utilise all political, military and diplomatic actions and mobilise all efforts on all fronts to defeat and eradicate Boko Haram.
He congratulated President Jonathan for the success recorded by the military in the fight against the insurgents.
“We have no doubt that we have arrived at a mechanism for coordinating all our actions for effectiveness,” N’Guesso said.
In the same vein, the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Ashrat Salama, has called on Nigeria and the Africa Union (AU) to collaborate against the terrorist group, Islamic State and ensure the establishment of a multi-national force against it.
This, he said, is necessary to ensure that the terrorist group does not spread on the continent.
Speaking against the backdrop of air strikes recently carried out on IS targets in Libya by the Egyptian Air Force, Salama told journalists in Abuja monday that contrary to the propaganda by IS, no civilian was killed in the offensive.
Egypt carried out the offensive on IS training schools and ammunition storage in Libya in retaliation for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by the group.
Salama particularly noted that it was necessary for Nigeria to work with Egypt to combat the terrorist group because both nations are not far from each other.
Both nations, he added, could also lead the call for a multi-national force on the continent as powerful voices in the AU.
“Nigeria is already achieving results with the multi-regional force with Chad, Cameroon and Niger, so we need something like this as we are dealing with similar issues,” he urged.
Although Egypt is ready to work to secure the region, the matter of IS is a bigger issue, he added.
“We can do this by sharing information, mobilising forces, co-ordinating strategies, form a coalition from the AU to be supervised by a multi-task force. If you do not support the fight against the terror group because it is not in your country, before you realise it, it could be in your neighbourhood,” he said.
The envoy added that to be nonchalant about IS is like shutting one’s door against fire.
“It is too big for Egypt alone, you cannot go just because you are provoked, you have to plan well. We must not give a chance to these terrorists,” he added.
Meanwhile, following the successes recorded in recovering the hitherto strongholds of the Boko Haram insurgents, the Nigerian military has intensified its efforts to clear the vicinity of all members of the terrorist gang.
Yesterday, its ongoing mopping-up, cordon-and-search operations in Baga, led to the capture of a Boko Haram terrorist disguised as a woman.
This is coming as the air force in coordination with ground troops has intensified the aerial bombardment of the last frontiers of Bama, Gwoza and Sambisa forests in Borno State.
The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, disclosed this in a statement yesterday, saying that the searches were also yielding more discoveries of arms especially bombs hidden in various locations, especially in Baga town.
Apart from those captured in the course of fighting, Olukolade said many arrests of terrorists hiding in the town were being made and troops were still busy interrogating the arrested suspects.
He added that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in furtherance of the mission to clear terrorists from all their enclaves by the military, has stepped up its air bombardment of identified targets in Gwoza, Bama and Sambisa forest, preparatory to other phases of the mission.
According to Olukolade, the air strikes have been highly successful as they have achieved the aims, hitting vital targets with required precision.
He said that the terrorists were now in disarray as they scamper to escape from the impact of air bombardment of their locations in the forest.
“Having successfully liberated Baga where the terrorists have been marauding, the troops’ attention has now been focused on consolidation of the security of the area to pave the way for the return of citizens,” he said.
