France tries to rally mistrustful African states against Boko Haram

DAKAR (Reuters) – France will step in to help coordinate a regional taskforce against Nigeria’s Islamist group Boko Haram, amid signs of mistrust among West African neighbours, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.

Boko Haram has stepped up attacks across much of Nigeria’s north ahead of presidential elections in February. Their operations have spilled over Nigeria’s borders into Niger to the north and Cameroon to the east, and stirred fears that Chad could be dragged into the conflict.

The leaders of the four countries agreed in Paris in May to flesh out a plan to share intelligence, coordinate action and monitor borders. But there appears to have been little tangible cooperation between Abuja and neighbouring governments since.

France has ruled out direct military intervention, saying Nigeria should take the lead. But Paris says it can play a role in easing tensions between its three former colonies and anglophone Nigeria.

“We’re at a forum in Dakar talking about the need for Africans to collectively take charge of their security and yet it’s not happening where there is urgency,” Le Drian said.

“Everybody distrusts everybody. We have to get beyond that,” he told journalists without giving details.

Boko Haram is a Sunni jihadist movement waging a five-year insurgency to establish an Islamist state in northeast Nigeria.

Regional analysts say Nigeria’s neighbours suspect its army is infiltrated by Boko Haram and cannot be trusted if it crosses borders in hot pursuit of militants, which Abuja wants to do.