Nigerian Government Seeks Niger's Military Support Against Boko Haram
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2013/05/nigerian-government-seeks-niger.html
Nigeria has asked its northern neighbor Niger for help in an offensive against Boko Haram insurgents, as West African states try to cooperate against a spread of Islamist violence.
An intelligence source in Niger said on Tuesday security had been tightened along the thinly populated border and military police were searching vehicles for Boko Haram fighters who might be fleeing the past week's onslaught on their bases in Nigeria.
A Nigerian minister delivered a request for assistance late on Monday in the Niger capital Niamey, but gave no details on what Niger's role may be. The success of al Qaeda associates in seizing a swathe of Mali last year prompted West African leaders to cooperate more against militants seeking an Islamic emirate.
Nigeria, oil-rich and Africa's most populous nation, worries that the four-year-old insurgency based in its remote northeast is being fed from abroad, through Niger, Chad and Cameroon. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three states last week and launched a major military offensive.
Nurudeen Muhammed, a junior foreign minister, delivered the request for assistance from Jonathan to Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou: "We currently have military operations under way in Nigeria in three federal states to combat terrorism and we would like to have Niger's support in the common fight against these terrorists," Muhammed told Niger state television.
Nigeria and Niger signed a mutual defense pact in October and soldiers from Niger, as well as Chad, joined Nigerian forces in an assault on Boko Haram fighters last month in the Nigerian town of Baga, on the semi-desert shores of Lake Chad.
The Niger intelligence source said 20 vehicles carrying suspected Boko Haram fighters had been spotted on Tuesday in Nigeria about 100 km (60 miles) from the border town of Bosso.
"The borders are huge, so even with joint efforts it will be difficult to prevent movement between countries, but we can stop as much as possible," a Nigerian military source said.
The fighting in Nigeria has pushed more than a thousand refugees across the porous 1,500-km (950-mile) frontier into Niger in the past few weeks, according to U.N. estimates.
A Nigerian minister delivered a request for assistance late on Monday in the Niger capital Niamey, but gave no details on what Niger's role may be. The success of al Qaeda associates in seizing a swathe of Mali last year prompted West African leaders to cooperate more against militants seeking an Islamic emirate.
Nigeria, oil-rich and Africa's most populous nation, worries that the four-year-old insurgency based in its remote northeast is being fed from abroad, through Niger, Chad and Cameroon. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three states last week and launched a major military offensive.
Nurudeen Muhammed, a junior foreign minister, delivered the request for assistance from Jonathan to Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou: "We currently have military operations under way in Nigeria in three federal states to combat terrorism and we would like to have Niger's support in the common fight against these terrorists," Muhammed told Niger state television.
Nigeria and Niger signed a mutual defense pact in October and soldiers from Niger, as well as Chad, joined Nigerian forces in an assault on Boko Haram fighters last month in the Nigerian town of Baga, on the semi-desert shores of Lake Chad.
The Niger intelligence source said 20 vehicles carrying suspected Boko Haram fighters had been spotted on Tuesday in Nigeria about 100 km (60 miles) from the border town of Bosso.
"The borders are huge, so even with joint efforts it will be difficult to prevent movement between countries, but we can stop as much as possible," a Nigerian military source said.
The fighting in Nigeria has pushed more than a thousand refugees across the porous 1,500-km (950-mile) frontier into Niger in the past few weeks, according to U.N. estimates.
