Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan and France’s President Francois Hollande have linked the operation of the deadly Nigerian Boko Haram to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda, making it no longer a local problem.
The leaders who spoke today at the Nigeria security summit holding in Paris, said: “Boko Haram has become a major threat for all of west Africa and now for central Africa. Its links to AQMI (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and other terrorist organizations have been established.”
President Jonathan is joining four other African leaders and representatives of France, Britain and the United States, to iron out details of an international response to the Islamic extremist group, which still holding over 230 schoolgirls captive.
Francois Hollande wanted the security effort in Africa to involve sharing intelligence, protecting borders, and quick action in a crisis, even as he emphasised that Boko Haram had clearly established ties with other terror groups in Africa, making it a problem throughout the continent and beyond.
