/ 9 August 2011

Nigerian president pledges to fight terrorism with Niger

Nigerian President Pledges To Fight Terrorism With Niger

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday pledged cooperation to fight “terrorism” during talks with Niger’s leader, his office said, amid concern over Islamist extremists in the region.

During talks with Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou in Abuja, Jonathan, the current chairperson of the 15-nation West African bloc Ecowas, also condemned an alleged coup attempt in the neighbouring country last month.

Jonathan said that “Nigeria would take definite steps to strengthen security cooperation with all her neighbours in order to check trans-border crime and terrorism and ensure the security of people.”

Such cooperation would include strengthening border patrols, he added.

A video obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP) last week showed a Briton and an Italian kidnapped in northern Nigeria in May. In the video, the victims say their abductors are from al-Qaeda, though the assertion was impossible to verify.

The kidnappings occurred near the border with Niger, where al-Qaeda’s north African branch, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has claimed abductions of foreign workers. The group has never claimed kidnappings in Nigeria.

Nigeria has also been hit by scores of attacks in recent months blamed on an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, based in the country’s north, though the group has not been accused of kidnappings.

According to the statement, Issoufou told Jonathan “that his country was concerned about the proliferation of small arms which threatened security in the sub-region”.

Issoufou announced last week that 10 people had been arrested for attempting a coup last month in the West African country that recently emerged from military rule.

Issoufou was elected in March in an vote widely viewed as fair and transparent and a major step toward democracy in a nation with a history of military coups.