Africa Agrees To Send 7,500 Troops To Fight Boko Haram

AFRICAN leaders under the aegis of the African Union may have agreed to send 7,500 troops to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria.

    The head of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, Samil Chergui, who made the disclosure yesterday, said the move came after the council urged heads of state to endorse the deployment of troops from five West African countries to fight the terror group.

   African leaders who are members of the 54-nation African Union met in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for a two-day summit that ended yesterday.

   U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon earlier said he supports the AU’s move to send a force to fight Boko Haram.    

   Boko Haram is increasing its attacks as Nigeria prepares for February 14 elections. 

  Upon his ascension, Mugabe wasted no time calling on members to improve infrastructure and tackle climate change, conflict and Ebola and with a familiar rallying cry that Africa’s wealth belongs to Africa and not “imperialists and colonialists”.

   The 90-year-old veteran leader, who was elected head of the union on Friday, replaces President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, of Mauritania.