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President Buhari received by President Mahamadou
Issoufou on arrival in Niamey (Image source: Paul Ibe/Garba Shehu on Twitter)
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Nigeria's army will take a bigger role in
the effort to crush Boko Haram, by taking over from soldiers from Niger in
occupying towns liberated from the Islamist militant group, President Muhammadu
Buhari said on Wednesday.
Niger
and Chad played a leading role earlier this year in driving the insurgents from
towns in northeastern Nigeria including Malam Fatori and Damasak, in part
because of the weakness of the Nigerian army.
"I
renew my commitment to track Boko Haram into a corner, to destroy it. Five
years of the presence of this evil sect is enough," Buhari told a news
conference with Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou.
Reuters reports:
Buhari was speaking during a visit to Niger that is his first trip overseas since
winning elections in March in Nigeria, which has the biggest population and
economy in sub-Saharan Africa. Buhari said he would visit Chad on Thursday.
"On
the issue of the Niger military positioned in cities of Nigeria ... I think in
the next four weeks we will be able to replace them with Nigerian forces so
they can return to their country," he said.
A
new multinational force of 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and
Benin to combat the insurgency in the Lake Chad region will become operational
in the coming weeks, Issoufou said on Tuesday.
Buhari
said the other nations would provide weapons and help restore infrastructure
destroyed by the insurgents. He also thanked Niger for hosting as many as
150,000 refugees who fled insecurity in Nigeria to Niger.
"Niger
is ready to finish with Boko Haram and protect its borders, its people and
their property," Issoufou said.
Boko
Haram launched its insurgency in 2009, attacking towns and villages and killing
thousands of people in pursuit of a state adhering to strict sharia law. The
militants' abduction of 200 schoolgirls in April 2014 provoked outrage across
the world.
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