The
UK has pledged funds of £40m ($57.44m)to help Nigeria in the fight
against Boko Haram. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also said that
Britain would train around 1,000 Nigerian militia in counter-insurgency
operations.
The announcements came at the Regional Security
Summit in Abuja, Nigeria. "President Buhari has shown strong leadership
in the global fight against Boko Haram, a brutal organisation that has
raped, murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians, forcing over two
million people to flee their homes.
"Their allegiance to, and
potential coordination with Daesh [Islamic State] is a reminder of the
threat they present to the region and to British interests," Hammond
said in a statement released by the Foreign & Commonweath Office.
The
statement continued: "Britain and Nigeria, with support from the US,
France, and its neighbours, are making progress to degrade Boko Haram,
but we must maintain the momentum to win the war, and build the right
conditions for stability in the region."
Hammond met with key
regional leaders to discuss what the international community can do to
support Nigeria with its security issues.
The fight against
Islamic extremists will be paid out by the UK over a four-year period.
The UN Security Council said the talks are to develop "a comprehensive
strategy to address the governance, security, development,
socio-economic and humanitarian dimensions of the crisis".
Martin
Ewi, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, told Al Jazeera
that Boko Haram is difficult to engage with the more remote areas of
Nigeria.
"I believe Buhari [the Nigerian President] is
acknowledging the difficulty and that it is not easy for the military to
just go out there and elimate Boko Haram," he said.
"The rural
areas have always been neglected when it comes to security and that has
always been the problem - the ungoverned places. In many of these
regions, the police are only getting to know them now. Now it is coming
back to haunt us."