African Union calls for 7,500-strong force to fight Boko Haram

ADDIS ABABA: The African Union called on Friday for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the “horrendous” rise of Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants.
The call for collective action came as leaders of the 54-member bloc opened their two-day annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where they were addressing a string of crises across the continent.
“Terrorism, in particular the brutality of Boko Haram against our people, is a threat to our collective safety, security and development. This has now spread to the region beyond Nigeria and requires a collective, effective and decisive response,” AU commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a speech opening the summit.
Conflicts elsewhere, including civil war in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, as well as a new offensive launched on Thursday by Democratic Republic of Congo against Rwandan ethnic Hutu rebels in the east of the country, are also expected to be discussed.
The AU Peace and Security Council called for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to stop the “horrendous” rise of the insurgents.
The proposed force will have the backing of the AU, and will ask for expected UN Security Council approval, plus a “Trust Fund” to pay for it, Dlamini-Zuma said.
More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than one million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told African leaders that Boko Haram was “a clear danger to national, regional and international peace and security”.
African leaders also named Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to the bloc’s one-year rotating chair, replacing Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
Mugabe, a former liberation war hero who aged 90 is Africa’s oldest president and the third-longest serving leader, is viewed with deep respect by many on the continent — but he is also subject to travel bans from both the United States and European Union in protest at political violence and intimidation of opponents.
He recalled attending the founding of the AU’s predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, also in Addis Ababa.
“Africa has come a long way since then,” he said
The leaders gathered in Ethiopia will also discuss the economic recovery of countries affected by the Ebola virus, setting up a “solidarity fund” and planning a proposed African Centre for Disease Control.