NIGERIA, FOUR COUNTRIES TROOPS TO BEGIN TERROR FIGHT AT BORDERS

Troops from Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Republic of Benin, are to begin counter-terrorism operations to combat the Boko Haram insurgency along their national borders by November 1, 2014.

The five countries also agreed to establish the Multinational Joint Task Force headquarters, in Baga, by November 20,2014.

These were the highpoints of the ministerial meeting of member-states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic on Security, which held  on Monday in Abuja and attended by the Foreign and Defence Ministers of the member countries.

Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Amb. Aminu Wali, who read the draft resolution to the United Nations and the African Union, after the meeting, noted with deep regrets the continuous atrocities committed by the Boko Haram sect in the sub-region.

He said that the ministers agreed on the need to put in place an appropriate legal framework for military operations against insurgents in the sub-region, in view of Resolution 1556 (2004) of the United Nations Security Council which considered terrorism as the greatest threat to international peace and security.

Wali said the meeting expressed the determination to coordinate the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad Basin and commended the pledges by the LCBC member-states  and Benin Republic to deploy contingents along their common borders.

The minister said the LCBC states deliberated on the draft common resolution to the United Nations Security Council and the African Union, adding that they adopted the resolution and agreed to forward it to the Heads of State and Government of the LCBC member-states and the Republic of Benin.