President Muhammadu Buhari at the African Union (AU)
Peace and Security Council meeting in Addis Ababa on Saturday called for
support from the global community to tackle insurgency in Nigeria.
While
addressing African leaders at the 30th AU Summit, President Buhari
condemned in strong terms terrorism and terrorist activities in Africa
and around the world. He acknowledged the achievements recorded in the
insurgency fight and called for more international support to fight Boko
Haram.
“We
acknowledge that in spite of the achievements so far recorded, there
are still some packets of terrorist activities within the Lake Chad
Basin Region, particularly North-Eastern part of Nigeria.
“I call
on International Community for more support in addressing the menace of
Boko Haram and humanitarian crisis. We must also take resolute and
coordinative initiatives by developing an African Union database of
persons or groups and entities involved terrorist acts for use by law
enforcement agents such as borders security officers, customs, military,
and intelligence officers.
“Nigeria believes that the timely establishment of this tool at the continental level will be strategic in this fight,” he said.
The
President also explained that the Lake Chad has shrunk by over eight
percent, impacting negatively on livelihoods of millions of people
living in countries that have ties with the basin.
President Buhari left Abuja for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday,
joining 14 other members of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), a
standing organ of the AU for the prevention, management and resolution
of conflicts.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the
President, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said the meeting will
address issues regarding the “persistence of violent conflicts and
crisis situations in some parts of the continent, upsurge of Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees, climate change and its
consequences as well as the issue of the derailment of national
development programmes.
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