Global action targets Boko Haram funding

An international meeting on security in Nigeria yesterday called on the country, its neighbours and other partners to identify and block the sources of Boko Haram funding and weapons, as part of sterner measures towards tackling insurgency.The meeting of foreign affairs ministers, held in Abuja, also regretted that in spite of joint efforts by Nigeria […]

An international meeting on security in Nigeria yesterday called on the country, its neighbours and other partners to identify and block the sources of Boko Haram funding and weapons, as part of sterner measures towards tackling insurgency.
The meeting of foreign affairs ministers, held in Abuja, also regretted that in spite of joint efforts by Nigeria and international partners, the Chibok schoolgirls abducted on April 14 are still in captivity.
Foreign ministers from Nigeria, Cameroon, France, the United Kingdom, as well as representatives of Benin, Chad, Niger, United States, Canada, China, United Nations, European Union, ECOWAS and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) attended the meeting, which was called to review the progress of earlier meetings in Paris and London as well as the Africa Summit held in the US last month.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the event, Foreign Affairs Minister Aminu Wali said the need to effectively address the sources of funding for and the supply of weapons to Boko Haram was discussed.
“The meeting called for greater cooperation of the international community to assist in tracking these sources with a view to putting an end to these practices and all forms of illegal transfer of arms and ammunitions,” he said.
“It also called for demonstrable and strict enforcement of relevant United Nations and other international sanctions against terrorist groups, especially Boko Haram.”
At the Paris summit in May, Nigerian and its neighbours agreed on a regional plan of action to combat Boko Haram, including joint border patrols and intelligence sharing to find the over 200 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Borno State.
The girls are still in captivity, in spite of repeated pledges by the authorities to bring them home. It is not clear if any intelligence sharing is happening among the countries involved towards freeing the schoolgirls.
Also, the London Ministerial Meeting on Security in Northern Nigeria held in June built on agreements reached in Paris and considered further options to combat terrorism in parts of the North.
Wali said yesterday the Abuja conference called for redoubling of efforts on the part of all concerned on the commitment made with regard to intelligence sharing against insurgency.
The participants urged support for the implementation of multi-dimensional measures adopted by Nigeria to combat terrorism, and called on regional governments and multilateral institutions to intensify socio-economic cooperation aimed at poverty eradication, economic and inclusive development.
On the Chibok schoolgirls, the meeting reiterated the need to mobilise support to end their captivity, and further called for support to end sexual violence.
It also called on strategic partners to provide assistance to countries in their effort at hosting the refugees.
Earlier during his opening remarks, Wali called on the international community not to allow Boko Haram to establish fresh links with the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, just as they seek to break any operational link between the Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and other terrorist networks in the Sahel.
He also described the claim by Boko Haram to a “phantom” Islamic caliphate in some areas of the North East as ludicrous and untenable, adding that the Federal Government will never surrender to terror and is committed to taking steps to protect the unity and territorial integrity of Nigeria.
“As our government takes concrete steps to reposition the Armed Forces and the security agencies with a view to enhancing their combat readiness, we need to intensify the sharing of intelligence and information on operations of the terrorists,” Wali said.
“We also need to track both local and external sources of funds, logistics, arms and ammunition to terrorists with a view to cutting them off, so as to deny them the oxygen that nourishes the insurgency.”
He added that at the end of the meeting, Nigeria expected to see the beginning of concrete action in support of a post-conflict phase of rebuilding infrastructure and restoring basic services to the three states under emergency rule in the North East.
“The Safe Schools Initiative and Victims Support Fund need to be embraced by all. A secure atmosphere needs to be created for the return of refugees and internally-displaced persons and for the restorations of the means of livelihood to the people affected by the insurgency,” he said.
Wali said there was the need to identify what was working and what needed to be done more, better or differently, both in the immediate and long terms, to put definitive end to insurgency.
At the end of the Abuja meeting, Niger Republic offered to host the next follow-up ministerial meeting, but no date was announced for that.