Niger, Chad and Cameroon are seeking to pin down Boko Haram withinNigeria’s borders ahead of a ground-and-air offensive by a regionaltask-force due to start from the end of next month, a senior Niger
military official told Reuters.The group has fought fierce battles with the three countries’ armies
in southern Niger and northern Cameroon, near Nigeria’s borders, in recent weeks.
Chadian forces have made incursions into Nigeria to push back the jihadist fighters, hundreds of whom have been killed.
Niger’s Army Director of documentation and military intelligence, Col.
Mahamane Laminou Sani, said that military chiefs will meet in the
Chadian capital N’Djamena next week to finalize strategy for the
8,700-strong task-force of troops from Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin
and Niger.
“All we are doing right now is stopping Boko Haram from entering
Niger: if they attack our positions we push them back a certain
distance and Nigeria pushes from the other side to contain the
situation,” he said
“There are initiatives by our countries to make sure Boko Haram
doesn’t get out of control, but we have a deadline of end-March to put
the joint force into practice,” Col Sani said.
Highlighting the cross-border threat, militants attacked Niger
overnight, killing three before they were driven back.
The force’s first commander will be a Nigerian and the position will
then rotate annually among members, Sani said.
The implementation of the force has been delayed by tensions between
Nigeria and Cameroon over the right to pursue militants across the
border into each other’s countries, sources said.
Niger and Chad already have agreements in place covering that with
each other and with Nigeria. Nigeria and Cameroon will be under
pressure to iron out their differences
