chest to fight violent jihadist movement
Cameroon's army says it has killed 86 Boko Haram militants and
detained 1,000 people suspected of links to the Islamist group, as
central African leaders held talks on how to combat its bloody
insurgency.
Five Cameroonian soldiers were also killed during the clashes in the
Waza region near the border with Nigeria, accordin to Didier Badjeck,
defence ministry spokesman.
Nigeria-based Boko Haram has widened its attacks into neighbouring
nations, notably Cameroon and Chad,in a conflict estimated to have
claimed a total 13,000 lives since 2009.
Representatives of 10 nations, meeting in the Cameroonian capital
Yaounde on Monday under the aegis of the Economic Community of Central
African States (Eccas), urged the international community to provide
more support in the fightback against the Islamists.
"We have to eradicate Boko Haram," said President Paul Biya of
Cameroon, as attendees agreed to create a 76 million euro (£56m) fund
to fight the group.
Mr Biya said Boko Haram's disregard for human dignity meant "a total
impossibility of compromise".
Nigeria, where elections have been postponed by six weeks until late
March because of Boko Haram activity in swaths of the north-east,
was absent from the talks as it is not an Eccas member.
The aim of Monday's discussion was to come up with a solution in the
fight against the extremists, a source close to the Cameroonian
government told AFP.
Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria have formed a military alliance to
combat the notoriously brutal militants, who are fighting to create a
hardline Islamic state.
A Cameroonian army official announced that more than 1,000 people
suspected of being affiliated with Boko Haram were being held in the
town of Maroua, in the country's Far North region, where more than
2,000 Cameroonian soldiers have been deployed since August last year.
The detentions came as police in Niger said they had arrested more
than 160 people suspected of having links to Boko Haram in the
country's Diffa region, a border area with Nigeria which was attacked
by the Islamist group this month.
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