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Friday, 12 June 2015

Nigeria to Lead Coalition Forces Against Boko Haram

Nigeria and its neighbours agreed on Thursday that Abuja would lead a new regional military force to counter Boko Haram, a fresh sign of President Muhammadu Buhari's intent to crush the Islamist militant group.
The new force will be headed by a Nigerian commander, the five-nation coalition agreed, after Buhari rejected calls for a rotating command between the partners, arguing that a changing leadership could hamper the counter-insurgency effort.

A final communiqué following talks in Abuja on the remit of the new 8,700-strong force backed Buhari's call for a Nigerian military chief to control operations.

Cameroon will take the No. 2 role of "deputy first commander" for an initial 12 months while a Chadian will be appointed chief of staff for the first year, the statement said.

"National contingents" of troops for the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin should be deployed by July 30, it added.

The MNJTF will replace an existing ad hoc military coalition that includes troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon and which has claimed a series of successes against Boko Haram since February.

There are hopes the new force will be more effective and deliver a hammer blow to the Islamic State-affiliated group, whose six-year insurgency has left at least 15,000 dead and more than 1.5 million homeless.

Buhari has made ending the Boko Haram insurgency his top priority since coming to power on May 29.

Chad and Niger have both complained that the previous Nigerian administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan prevented their troops from pursuing militant fighters deeper into Nigeria's northeast.

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