Despite Struggling With Boko Haram, Buhari Govt To Help Mozambique Defeat Terrorism

Buhari government has offered to help Mozambique defeat terrorism.

NewsOne Nigeria reports that despite struggling with Boko Haram insurgence, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has offered to support Mozambique in its fight against Islamist insurgents.

This online news platform understands that Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, visited Mozambique over the weekend and met Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, the BBC reported on Monday, February 1.

Onyeama said Nigeria was willing to share its experience in fighting Islamist militants and provide support to Mozambique.

Details of how and when the aid would be channeled were not immediately clear at a time Nigeria has been grappling with its own leg of insurgency since 2009 though Buhari administration has on several occasions claimed to have “technically defeated Boko Haram.”

Boko Haram terrorists operating on Nigeria’s northeastern fringe have killed over 100,000 civilians and security forces, with military chiefs expressing fears that the crisis may linger for several years ahead.

The Minister’s visit was a stop in his diplomatic tour to Southern African countries to garner support as Nigeria seeks to lead the peace and security council of the African Union (AU).

Other countries lobbying for this position include, Tanzania, South Africa and Burkina. The elections are slated to hold later this week, at the AU’s summit, BBC reported.

NewsOne Nigeria understands that the insurgency in Cabo Delgado has been ongoing largely between Islamist militants attempting to establish an Islamic state in the country, and Mozambican security forces.

The BBC cited figures from the International Committee of the Red Cross places deaths at over 2,000 people have been killed and more than 500,000 others displaced in the violence. The militant group’s official name is Ahlu Sunnah wa-l-Jama’ah (ASWJ), but it is now referred to internationally as the Islamic State in Mozambique.