Headquarters of Multinational Joint Task Force secured – Commission

The Lake Chad Basin Commission has said that the location to host the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force has been secured.

Alhaji Sanusi Abdulahi, the Executive Secretary of the commission, made this known at a one-day ministerial meeting of member states of the LCBC and Benin Republic on security on Monday in Abuja.

Abdulahi said the meeting was an opportunity for member states to review their commitments in line with issues raised at the extraordinary summit of heads of states in Niamey.

He said: “Our commanders-in-chief and heads of states have decided to work together as brothers.

“In this regard, each member country is committed to whatever is happening in another member country.

“It is therefore an opportunity for the ministers of foreign affairs and defence, who are the key advisers to heads of state and government, to work together closely to ensure the success of this decision taken at Niamey.

“I also want to appreciate the commitment and support of Nigeria, particularly with the issue of security and reinforcement of the security of Baga Kawa as the headquarters of the multinational joint task force.

“This is an opportunity also for the minister of defence of Nigeria to brief his colleagues that Baga Kawa is safe to host the multinational joint task force.

“This issue was raised at the closed-door meeting of the summit in Niamey.”

Abdulai said the Nigerian minister of defence would further brief the meeting on measures taken to ensure the location, situated in Borno State, was secure.

He added that the commission had recorded progress in terms of commitment from member states.

He added: “We had the third ministerial meeting of member countries in Niamey in July and we discussed the security situation and the deployment of troops by member countries as agreed by the heads of state.

“Each country is to give an equipped battalion to the multinational joint task force.

“As at that time, Niger and Chad had already deployed theirs at locations within their countries.

“Nigerian troops are already there in Baga, but Cameroon was preparing to deploy its contingents so we are hopeful that by the end of the month, Cameroon would have deployed their contingent within their border.”

Abdulai said that operations of the task force to work across borders would be fully implemented as soon as the legal arrangements were finalised.

Also in his opening remarks, Ambassador Aminu Wali, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the considerations at the end of the meeting would enhance the fight against terrorism.

Wali said the common draft resolutions agreed on at the end of the meeting would enable the United Nations Security Council and African Union to put in place an appropriate legal framework for cross-border operations.

He said: “Thus far, we have strengthened our collective defence, tightened our border security and equipped our law enforcement agencies with new tools to confront terrorism.

“At the regional level, we have succeeded in enhancing cooperation in border patrol with our neighbouring countries.

“We have also succeeded in deploying troops along our common borders.

“A new Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit has since become operational.

“The proposed resolution to be considered at our meeting today would indeed add momentum to our fight against terrorism.

“It is my conviction that the common draft resolutions that would be agreed on at the end of the meeting would enable the United Nations Security Council and African Union put in place an appropriate legal framework that would enhance cross-border military operation against Boko Haram as well as develop a common defence strategy in the fight against terrorism in our sub-region.”

The Heads of State’s extraordinary summit on October 8 in Niamey directed the experts to develop a common strategy to fight Boko Haram.

They also decided to finalise the establishment of the Headquarters of the MJTF in a secured place by November 20.