FRANCE: Britain offers to "embed military advisers" in Nigeria to help in a fight against Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram

Record ID: 236733

  • Title: FRANCE: Britain offers to "embed military advisers" in Nigeria to help in a fight against Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram
  • Date: 17th May 2014
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 17, 2014) (REUTERS) BRITISH EMBASSY PREMISES MICROPHONES / BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE WALKING TO MICROPHONES (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE SAYING: "The Nigerian security forces have not been well-structured for this kind of thing. This has been shown by the fact that the problem has been getting worse with Boko Haram. So, we can help with that. That is why we're offering to embed military advisers with the Nigerian headquarters. We work with Nigeria in many other ways on counter-terrorism. It is very important that they uphold high standards of human rights and that they are well coordinated in their own operations and this is certainly something I will discuss with (Nigerian) President Jonathan during the meeting over the next few hours." CAMERA OPERATOR FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE SAYING: "Nigeria has the main responsibility here and must be the leading nation in tackling this, so it's very, very important that Nigeria takes its responsibilities seriously and that includes being able to mount a more effective security response, as well as being able to improve the development and economy of the regions in the north. All of these things are critically important and I will certainly be raising that with the President of Nigeria today." HAGUE AT MICROPHONES
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9MO9LY7X81DNI8EIDMZVOBQ7B
  • Story Text: Britain is offering to send advisers to help Nigeria's military structure its efforts to fight Boko Haram, Foreign Minister William Hague said on Saturday (May 17), ahead of a meeting to hammer out a strategy to tackle the Islamist group.
    West African leaders are meeting in Paris to try to improve cooperation in their fight against the group which last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls and threatens to destabilise the wider region.
    Outrage over the girls has prompted Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, criticised at home for his government's slow response, to accept U.S., British and French intelligence help in the hunt for the girls.
    "The Nigerian security forces have not been well-structured for this kind of thing. This has been shown by the fact that the problem has been getting worse with Boko Haram. So, we can help with that. That is why we're offering to embed military advisers with the Nigerian headquarters. We work with Nigeria in many other ways on counter-terrorism," Hague told reporters ahead of the meeting.
    U.S. officials have said the effort to retrieve the girls is now a top priority, but has been complicated by Nigeria's early reluctance to accept assistance, and U.S. rules banning aid to foreign forces that have committed human rights abuses.
    "It is very important that they uphold high standards of human rights and that they are well coordinated in their own operations and this is certainly something I will discuss with President Jonathan during the meeting over the next few hours," Hague said.
    "Nigeria has the main responsibility here and must be the leading nation in tackling this, so it's very, very important that Nigeria takes its responsibilities seriously and that includes being able to mount a more effective security response, as well as being able to improve the development and economy of the regions in the north," he added.
    France, itself a target of Islamist militants for its military intervention against rebels in Mali, is bringing together Nigeria's neighbours Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin, and Western officials.
    With about 6,000 troops operating in either Mali to the northwest or the Central African Republic to the east, Paris has a major interest in preventing Nigeria's security deteriorating.
    It fears Boko Haram could spread north into the Sahel, and beyond Cameroon into the Central African Republic.
    French diplomats have ruled out any Western military operation but said they expected a regional plan to take shape for countering Boko Haram.
    Suspected Boko Haram rebels from Nigeria attacked a Chinese work site in northern Cameroon on Friday and at least 10 people are believed to have been kidnapped, the regional governor said on Saturday.
    The group has killed more than 3,000 people in a five-year campaign to establish an Islamic state in mostly Muslim northeast Nigeria.
    With Nigeria's large and well-funded army seemingly unable to quell the threat from Boko Haram, many fear that impoverished Niger and an increasing lawless northern Cameroon could struggle to deal with a serious attack.
    Nigeria has complained the far north of Cameroon is being used by Boko Haram militants to shelter from a Nigerian military offensive and to transport weapons, and has urged Cameroon to tighten border security.
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