17th May, 2014
Representatives of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Presidents of France, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger who participated in a summit in Paris today have pledged to intensify regional and international efforts to liberate the abducted school girls in Nigeria and fight the terrorism of Boko Haram.
Nigeria and its neighbours agreed to coordinate patrols with the aim of locating the school girls and combating Boko Haram.
They also decided to establish a system to pool intelligence to support their operations. They agreed to stop weapon trafficking and secure weapons stockpiles.
They decided to establish mechanisms for border surveillance and create a dedicated team to identify means of implementing regional counter terrorism strategy.
The United States, United Kingdom, France and European Union promised to provide technical expertise, training programmes and support for border management programmes.
The summit agreed that there will be international sanctions against Boko Haram main leaders.
Donors will be mobilised in support of programmes fostering the socio-economic development of the regions concerned “with particular emphasis on gender equality, the rights of women and girls and in particular their right to education, increasing women’s participation in all decision-making processes and supporting victims of sexual violence, including through legal assistance, medical care and psychosocial support”.
The next meeting will be hosted in the United Kingdom in June.