African leaders want a strengthened force of 7,500 troops, mainly from Nigeria and neighboring countries, to help combat Boko Haram’s growing Islamist insurgency, the African Union’s peace and security commissioner said.
Forces from Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Benin and Chad will make up the bulk of a mission that will have to be approved by the United Nations Security Council, Smail Chergui told reporters late on Thursday in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
“Hopefully now with this concept, this force will be better organized, and we can achieve the goal we are looking for, which is to stop the killing and barbaric acts of Boko Haram,” he said after a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council, attended by continental leaders.
Boko Haram has killed more than 13,000 people, according to Nigeria’s government, since it started a violent campaign in 2009 to impose Islamic law in Africa’s biggest oil producer. The group has declared a caliphate in northeastern Nigeria that’s the size of Belgium and its advances are intensifying pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan as he seeks re-election in a vote next month.
African leaders agreed last year to use the so-called Multinational Joint Task Force to combat the militants, according to a statement on the AU council’s website. Countries in the region have pledged to contribute a battalion of troops each to the force. “It is recommended that the countries of the region be authorized to increase the strength of the MNJTF up to 7,500,” the council said. The task force has yet to be given a mandate that’s needed before the UN Security Council can authorize its deployment.
Earlier this month, Boko Haram forces overran a military base that served as the headquarters of the task force when they attacked the town of Baga, committing mass killings and forcing thousands of people to flee, according to the AU. Amnesty International, the London-based human-rights group, said hundreds of people died in the attack.
Once it begins its envisaged 12-month deployment, the force will seek to prevent the expansion of Boko Haram and other “terrorist groups” and control the transfer of weapons and ammunition in the region, the council said.
