Nigeria Has To Do More to Stop Boko Haram

By Gulf News

May18, 2014

International terror needs an international response. This is why last week’s much-delayed summit on how to respond to Boko Haram laid the ground work for important international cooperation to stop their campaign of terror. The terrorists in Boko Haram have operated at a local level in north eastern Nigeria, but they have recently established links with Al Qaida, which opens up the possibility that they will seek to destabilise large parts of Nigeria as their allies succeeded in doing in Mali in 2012.

Last week’s summit in Paris gathered leaders from Nigeria and its four neighbours Benin, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon and also included France, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union who will coordinate their technical support. Nigeria has agreed to coordinate patrols, pool intelligence and exchange weapons and human-trafficking information with the countries at the summit. It would have made sense to include other countries from further afield like Mali and the Central African Republic, both of which have weak governments that Al Qaida is well able to establish bases there and operate with impunity. These countries should come to the follow-up summit in Britain next month.

All this international effort cannot just be restricted to hunting for the missing 270 abducted girls, although that is an immediate priority. The work has to also be part of a wider effort to eliminate Boko Haram for which the Nigerians have to take more responsibility.

It is unfortunate that after doing very little for weeks since the latest kidnap, President Goodluck Jonathan now claims that his government has 20,000 troops, plus aircraft and intelligence sources, in parts of Nigeria where Boko Haram is active, but still cannot find the Boko Haram bases or rescue the captive girls.

It is vital to remember that Boko Haram has run a campaign of murder and intimidation across northern Nigeria that has claimed 12,000 lives and left 8,000 people injured or maimed since 2009. This must stop and Jonathan has to take a lead in making the world a safer place.

Source: http://gulfnews.com/opinions/editorials/nigeria-has-to-do-more-to-stop-boko-haram-1.1334461

URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/nigeria-more-stop-boko-haram/d/87081