Africa agrees to send 7,500 troops to fight Boko Haram

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

BY ELIAS MESERET

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — African leaders agreed to send 7,500 troops to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria, an African Union official said Saturday, as the international community, including long-time foes the U.S. and Iran, rallied in support of Nigeria against the militants.

The move came after the council urged heads of state to endorse the deployment of troops from five West African countries to fight the terror group, said the head of the African Union's Peace and Security Council, Samil Chergui.

African leaders who are members of the 54-nation African Union are meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for a two-day summit that ends Saturday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier said he supports the AU's move to send a force to fight Boko Haram. Boko Haram is increasing its attacks as Nigeria prepares for Feb. 14 elections. Thousands have been killed in the 5-year insurgency.

FULL story at link.



United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon speaks during a news conference at the heads of state meeting of the annual African Union (AU) summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. (AP Photo/Elias Asmara)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150131/af-ethiopia-au-troops-d99d7bd4b1.html

[pangaia]

1. 7,500? That's it?

54 nations in the Afrivcan Union.
Humm, ket's see,, that's 138.8888888888888 troops each... on average...

According to "Wiki you know who".. only Morocco is not a member. Well, I can certainly understand that. that's ok. There probably aren't even 138 citizens in Morocco..
And the ones who live there are probably all billionaires....
How many billionaires know how to lace up combat boots?

[oberliner]

6. Only 5 countries are sending troops

Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin.

[Wolf Frankula]

2. This Is an African Problem

Africa should deal with it. But 7500 may not be enough.

Wolf

[christx30]

4. African problem that they aren't willing to deal with.

There are going to be more and more deaths, kidnappings, slavery. What can be done to get those people invested in their own continent?

[BumRushDaShow]

5. "What can be done to get those people"

invested in their continent to deal with the thousands and thousands of deaths in Ukraine?

I.e., the same applies to Europe ignoring their issues and sadly the U.S. doing the same. Oligarchs are everywhere.

This doesn't excuse the decades and decades of unrest in the aftermath of the end of colonization on the African continent, and the continued sustaining of puppet leaders by the former European colonial powers. Couple this with the battle between major religions on the continent and the people always lose. But this isn't much different from post WWI Europe with the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the establishment of new "empires" within eastern and central Europe, and the eventual upheaval and unrest that lead to WWII.

[7962]

3. Its a start. And about time. I suggest putting Chad in the lead.

They just proved that they are capable of eliminating large numbers of these bastards