PARIS – Boko Haram has ample money, highly sophisticated weaponry and advanced training with some of the world’s most experienced terrorists, the French president said Saturday as he and African leaders grappled with how to combat the Islamic extremist group whose reach extends to five countries.
Hours after two more attacks in Boko Haram strongholds – one in Nigeria that left a village torched and 40 people dead and another in Cameroon – the leaders agreed to improve policing of frontiers, share intelligence, and trace the weapons and cash that are the group’s lifeblood.
At the summit in Paris intended to hammer out a plan to find and free 276 schoolgirls being held hostage by Boko Haram, intelligence officials from the U.S., Europe and Africa shared information while heads of state and top diplomats tackled policy.
French President François Holland said the weapons came from chaotic Libya, and the training took place in Mali before the ouster of its al-Qaida linked Islamist leaders. As for the money, he said its origins were murky.
“Boko Haram is acting clearly as an al-Qaida operation,” said Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who had only reluctantly accepted outside help after years of insisting the group was a local problem.
Cameroon, which French officials said until recently also treated Boko Haram as a purely Nigerian issue, has become increasingly involved. The attack late Friday against a Chinese engineering firm’s camp left at least 10 people missing and one person dead. China is a major investor in the region, helping build infrastructure, public health projects and sports facilities and importing crude oil, timber and cotton.
Suspected Islamic militants attacked another northeast village before dawn on Saturday, killing about 40 people and burning all the huts as well as three vehicles, according to a member of a vigilante group that went to the village, Dalwa-Masuba, about 50 miles southwest of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
Hollande also emphasized that Boko Haram had clearly established ties with other terror groups in Africa, making it a concern throughout the continent and beyond.
Boko Haram has offered to exchange the captive girls for jailed insurgents, while threatening otherwise to sell them into slavery.
Officials have said there will be no Western military operation. British officials say Jonathan has ruled out swapping prisoners for the girls.
The northeastern region where the girls were kidnapped has suffered five years of increasingly deadly assaults by Boko Haram. Thousands have been killed, including more than 1,500 civilians this year.
