Four nations to deploy 8,700-strong force to fight Boko Haram

Nigeria and its four neighbour­ing nations at the weekend pledged to deploy 8,700 troops, police and civil­ians as part of a regional effort to fight Boko Ha­ram militants.

“The representatives of Be­nin, Cameroon, Niger, Nige­ria and Chad have announced contributions totalling 8,700 military personnel, police and civilians,” the countries said in a statement after a meet­ing in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde.

The announcement came out of a three-day summit fo­cused on organising the force that will battle the militants.
However, it may be some time before the multi-national effort goes into action, as na­tions will continue in coming days to thrash out the details of each government’s contri­bution as well as the budget.
Country representatives at the summit agreed to launch a mission to “foster a safe and secure environment in the impacted regions” and tackle an insurgency that has killed at least 13,000 people and pushed more than a mil­lion from their homes since 2009.
African Union leaders will submit the plan for the force crafted by Western and African experts to the United Nations Security Council for approval. Boko Haram’s at­tacks have increasingly spilled over from Nigeria into neigh­bouring nations.