WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, April 15, 2016/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power will travel to Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria April 16-23 to highlight the growing threat Boko Haram poses to the Lake Chad Basin region.
Boko Haram is one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world. It poses an acute threat to civilians across the Lake Chad Basin, and the group’s increasing lethality and relationship with ISIL are cause for alarm. As the world notes with sadness the second anniversary of the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria, we must work with partners in the region to develop a comprehensive counter-Boko Haram effort that includes a more coordinated military campaign, improved humanitarian access and response, a well-resourced stabilization and governance strategy, and expanded efforts to combat violent extremism.
In Cameroon, Ambassador Power will meet with government officials and civil society in its capital, Yaoundé. She will also travel internally to meet with refugees, internally displaced persons, and Cameroonian forces on the front lines of the regional effort to combat Boko Haram. She will also participate in a public destruction of confiscated ivory and pangolin scales, demonstrating the strong U.S.-Cameroonian partnership to counter wildlife trafficking.
In Chad, Ambassador Power will meet with government officials in N’Djamena and visit the headquarters for the Multinational Joint Task Force, a regional military effort composed of the Boko Haram-affected states in the Lake Chad Basin. Ambassador Power will also meet with Chadian civil society and civilians affected by the violence.
In Nigeria, Ambassador Power will engage with the Nigerian leadership and civil society in Abuja before traveling to the northeast to visit a settlement camp for civilians displaced by Boko Haram’s violence. Finally, Ambassador Power will host a town hall with students and will participate in a Peace Through Sports event with young Nigerians.
