President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Friday assumed the leadership of African Union amidst effort for urgent action to defeat the Boko Haram militants in North East Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the AU Peace and Security Council had also endorsed for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to be deployed to stop the insurgents.
Countries of the Lake Chad region, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin, on Thursday in Addis Ababa secured the endorsement for the deployment of 7,500 forces when the proposal was tabled at the AU Peace and Security Council, chaired by Alpha Conde of Guinea.
More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than a million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009 when violence broke out in Nigeria’s North East of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
The Mugabe led 54-member continental bloc is expected to adopt peace and security proposal and also evolve mechanisms to address other challenges of the continent within the next two days.
Mugabe in his acceptance speech assured of the Union effort to end the crises, including the war in South Sudan and Central African Republic, as well as the new offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He said the leaders would continue to support the countries affected by the Ebola epidemic even as issue is centre of discussion during the two-day summit.
The African leaders are expected to endorse an economic recovery for countries affected by the Ebola virus as well as the proposal for African Centre for Disease Control.
NAN reports that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa had killed about 9,000 persons in the three affected countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to WHO records.
The leaders are equally expected to focus on effort to ensure successful and peaceful polls in Nigeria and about 18 other countries within the year.
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