Nigeria, world powers okay sanctions against B/Haram, Ansaru

The regional security summit convened today in Paris, France by President Francois Hollande has resolved to institute sanctions against Boko Haram and Ansaru within the framework of the United Nations. This was among numerous resolutions aimed at curtailing the excesses of the insurgents and as well mobilize funds in support of women and girls in […]

The regional security summit convened today in Paris, France by President Francois Hollande has resolved to institute sanctions against Boko Haram and Ansaru within the framework of the United Nations.

This was among numerous resolutions aimed at curtailing the excesses of the insurgents and as well mobilize funds in support of women and girls in marginalized areas.

The leaders of Nigeria’s neighbours–Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad as well as representatives from the United States, United Kingdom and European Union—attended the summit to discuss fresh strategies for dealing with the security threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in West and Central Africa.

The communique issued at the end of the summit said Nigeria and her neighbours also agreed to build analysis and response capabilities that would enhance the security of all populations and the rule of law in the areas affected by Boko Haram attacks.

Nigeria and her neighbours specifically decided to immediately, on a bilateral basis, implement coordinated patrols with aimed at combating Boko Haram and locating the abducted schoolgirls of Chibok, Borno State.

They are also to establish a system to pool intelligence in order to support this operation, establish mechanisms for information exchange on trafficking of weapons and bolster measures to secure weapons stockpiles while also establishing mechanism for border surveillance.

The communique said countries were to establish an intelligence pooling unit, create a dedicated team to identify means of implementation and draw up, during a second phase, a regional counter-terrorism strategy in the framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission.

It said: “The United States, the United Kingdom, France and the European Union will coordinate their support for this regional cooperation through technical expertise, training programmes and support for the border area management programmes.
The participants are committed to accelerating the implementation of international sanctions against Boko Haram, Ansaru and their main leaders, within the United Nations framework as a priority.”

According to the communique, France, US, Britain and the European Union pledged to mobilize donors in support of programmes fostering social economic development of the regions concerned with particular emphasis on gender equality and the rights of women and girls.

It said the participants also agreed that the United Kingdom would host a follow up meeting next month at ministerial level to review progress on this action plan.

President Jonathan arrived Elysee Palace at 11.55am local time and was received by his host, President Hollande. They were later joined by Presidents Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger Republic), Boni Yaya (Benin Republic), Paul Biya (Cameroon) and Idriss Deby Itno (Chad) as well as US Under Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman; British Foreign Affairs Secretary, William Hague and European Union representative, Herman Van Rompuy.

Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), were invited into the meeting about one hour after its commencement.

Hollande had on Friday discussed the issue of the rescue of the Chibok girls in a phone conversation with US President Barack Obama.

Before proceeding to the summit,  Jonathan had received former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the Four Seasons Hotel in Paris.

In an interview with journalists, Nigerian Ambassador to France Hakeem Sulaimon, said the summit was necessary to deal with a very vicious terrorist group by building regional bridge.

He said: “Given the fact the fact that these terrorists resort to using safe havens by hitting and disappearing, it is important to be able to get cooperation so that specific strategic measures can be put in place including capacity to undertake hit pursuit across border lines.

“We need to be able to forge joint patrol cooperation, consolidate on joint monitoring to be able to strengthen intelligence gathering and sharing is that all countries involved will in a position to actually face the same course in addressing the problem of these plotters”, he said.

The envoy added that Nigeria needed to cash in on her cordial relationship with France to build coalition with the sub-region.