Un Chief Welcomes African Anti-Boko Haram Taskforce

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday welcomed an African Union (AU) decision to deploy a taskforce to fight the Boko Haram militant group.



"We welcome deployment of AU troops against Boko Haram," Ban told a press conference on the sidelines of the 24th African summit in Addis Ababa.



On Friday, the AU Peace and Security Council approved the deployment of 7,500 troops to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.



The UN chief said that Boko Haram was posing serious security danger not only to Nigeria but to the whole region.



Ban, however, said that the military action may not be the only solution for defeating Boko Haram.



"There should be analysis on the root causes," he said.



For the last five years, Nigeria has battled a fierce Boko Haram insurgency that has ravaged the country's volatile northeast and claimed thousands of lives.



The year 2014 proved to be the insurgency's bloodiest year yet, with increasingly frequent attacks, higher death tolls and a deluge of displaced persons.



A seemingly emboldened Boko Haram recently stepped up its militant activity, seizing several areas of Nigeria's Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states, where it has since declared an "Islamic caliphate."



The attacks displaced well over 1.5 million people in 2014, according to a recent report by the Borno State government.



-Peace building-



Ban said that the UN was collaborating with the AU in maintaining peace in Africa.



"Terrorism and cross-border crime continue to challenge [us]," he said.



The UN chief, meanwhile, called for world solidarity in the fight against the Ebola virus in West Africa.



"AU has been on the frontlines and mobilization of resources against Ebola was inspiring example," he said.



In recent months, more than 20,000 people have contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea – the three hardest-hit countries.



According to the World Health Organization, some 8,795 people have succumbed to the virus in the three West African states. Of these, 1,910 deaths were reported in Guinea alone.



Ebola, formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe – often fatal – illness in humans.



The virus can be transmitted to people from wild animals, but can also spread through human-to-human transmission.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Addis Ababa