Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in neighbouring Cameroon on
Wednesday for talks on how to combat the escalating regional threat from
Boko Haram Islamists. Security was tight for the 24-hour visit, after a
surge of Boko Haram violence in Cameroon including an unprecedented
series of five suicide bombings in the far north.
Presidential
guard soldiers were posted on rooftops of houses and along the route
from the airport to the presidential palace in Yaounde, while vehicles
armed with machine-guns patrolled the streets and
access to the hotel
where Buhari will stay was blocked.
The trip comes a day after Nigeria vowed that a new regional force tasked with fighting the jihadists would go into action soon.
Nigeria’s
presidency said Buhari’s talks with Cameroonian President Paul Biya
were part of his “ongoing effort to build a more effective regional
coalition against Boko Haram”. Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks
since Buhari took office in May, unleashing a wave of violence that has
claimed 800 lives in just two months.
The Nigerian president has
already visited neighbouring Chad and Niger, which have also suffered
from attacks by the Islamist fighters. Nigerian military spokesman Major
General Chris Olukolade told AFP on Tuesday that the new regional force
would be operational “any moment from now”, without giving a specific
date.
The 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing
in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to be more
effective than the current alliance in the battle to end Boko Haram’s
six-year insurgency that has claimed some 15,000 lives. Cameroon itself
also announced Tuesday it would be sending 2,000 more troops to the
north to take on Boko Haram
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