African presidents create $87 million emergency fund to fight Boko Haram

Presidents from the 10-nation Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) pledged in an extraordinary meeting on Monday to create an $87 million emergency fund to fight the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

“My counterparts from the CEEAC and I decided to create an emergency fund of 50 billion CFA francs ($86.72 million) to fight Boko Haram,” Gabon’s President Ali Bongo, who attended the one-day summit in Cameroon, said on his personal Twitter account.

The insurgents have killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in a five-year insurgency in northern Nigeria, and have recently intensified cross-border raids on neighboring countries in the Lake Chad area.