UN blocking troops deployment against Boko Haram - ECCAS scribe

Guy Garcia Alain, Deputy Secretary General of the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS has said that the deployment of thousands of troops by African countries to assist in the fight against Boko Haram is being hindered by the United Nations.

He was speaking to reporters at the opening of an extraordinary meeting of the Defense and Security Commission of ECCAS’ Council of Peace and Security, COPAX.

The three-day meeting which opened on Saturday June 6 at the International War College in Yaounde was chaired by Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, Cameroon’s Minister Delegate at the Presidency in Charge of Defence. It was also attended by Army Chiefs of Staff from ECCAS member countries.

The ECCAS Deputy Secretary General, also a Gabonese army general said that the multinational task force of 8,700 put in place with support from the African Union and which is expected to clamp down on the Nigeria-based Boko Harm group that has killed over 15,000 people, cannot go operational without the validation and authorization of the United Nations.

“The documents are blocked there at the United Nations headquarters in New York. We have to designate a Head of State to go there and lobby for it to be treated so that we can swing into action.” Guy stated.

He recalled decisions taken in a February 2015 meeting of experts from the UN Security Council member countries, the African Union’s Council of Peace and Security and countries of the Lake Chad Basin and Benin. “They decided here in Yaounde that 8, 700 troops would form a formidable force that will wipe out Boko Haram, but this far, the only joint force fighting against the group is Cameroon and Chad.” He said.

He equally recalled that Heads of State in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States met in a summit in Yaounde and took major decisions which are yet to be implemented to improve the fight against Boko Haram.

“They promised that they would contribute 50 Billion FCFA to support the fight and I am sure they would. They designated two Heads of State to urge Nigeria to be more active in the fight and invite ECOWAS for a joint summit in Equatorial Guinea. That was postponed because of the Nigerian elections.

President Buhari has taken over and he is actively involved. He is visiting Niger and Chad and will certainly visit Cameroon before the summit which will take place in the days ahead.” Guy stated.

The ECCAS official said that the most important thing that would facilitate the implementation of resolutions of both high level meetings that took place in Yaounde would be UN’s validation of the documents that contain logistical strategies and rules of engagement of the joint multinational taskforce against Boko Haram.

“As experts in these meetings stated, we have to enhance humanitarian support, improve diplomatic cooperation, source for funds, improve logistics, and most of all communicate. Some people have the impression that Boko Haram is winning whereas they are being annihilated.” Guy stressed.

Worthy of note is the fact that UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, had lauded the decision of the AU on January 29, describing the creation of a multinational force as a step in the right direction. The need for the force was initiated by countries of the Lake Chad basin and Benin in an earlier meeting in Niamey, Niger, January 20. The initial number of troops at creation was 7, 500.

It was later raised in a meeting in Yaounde in order to also include non-military personnel and police officers who will be in charge of other services, including, intelligence, security, analyses of combat situation as it evolves among other duties. Foreign experts who attended the meeting came from the UK, Russia, China, Germany, USA, France and other countries of the European Union.

While awaiting validation by the UN, the headquarters of the multinational force was inaugurated on May 25 in the Chadian capital, Ndjamena in the sidelines of the 16th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the Economic Community of Central African States. Cameroon’s president was represented by the Prime Minister, Philemon Yang.