[ 2015-01-29 ]

President Mahama leaves for AU Summit in Ethiopia
President John Mahama on Wednesday left for Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia to attend the 24th African Union
(AU) Summit.

Prior to the summit on Friday, Foreign Affairs
Ministers in Africa have been meeting at the AU
headquarters in Addis Ababa.

President Mahama has hinted that the January 29
summit will among other things dedicate a large
part of the discussion to the Boko Haram
insurgency and a possible formation of a regional
force to intervene.

He pointed out that it is imperative for the whole
continent to join forces to help Nigeria and
Cameroon fight Boko Haram because “all of us in
the sub-region are threatened by Boko Haram and
indeed on the whole continent.”

The summit was originally scheduled to discuss
women empowerment and development but the
intensity of the operations of Boko Haram has
changed the agenda of the summit.

According to Presdient Mahama, the change in topic
was based on a suggestion by ECOWAS that Boko
Haram “become a major topic for the AU
summit.”

He said ECOWAS is hoping to get AU to support the
creation of a regional force to confront and
defeat Boko Haram.

President Mahama who is also the chairman of
ECOWAS commended Chad for sending troops into
Cameroon but insisted that “we need to structure
something properly that allows our partners to
provide financing and logistics so that more
countries are involved in ensuring that we deal
with it in a more comprehensive manner than
individual countries supporting other
countries.”

He was hopeful that ECOWAS will reach an agreement
with the AU “which we will see countries
contribute to a force that deals with Boko Haram
in a more comprehensive manner.”

Source - MyjoyOnline

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