Boko Haram can no longer seize another town in Niger: Minister
A Nigerien minister says Boko Haram militants have no more chance to seize another town in the African country as the situation is totally under control.
"The situation is totally under control. There is no longer any chance that Boko Haram [militants] will take a city.... The risks of attacks occurring are very much reduced by the elimination of all the potential actors," Mohamed Bazoum, Niger's minister of state at the presidency, said during a visit to Ivory Coast on Saturday.
"It's a feeling of total calmness that prevails with the idea that Boko Haram is rather a thing of the past," Bazoum added.
On Wednesday, Niger's police spokesman, Captain Adili Toro, said the African country, which is Nigeria's northern neighbor, has killed at least 500 members of the Boko Haram terrorist group since February 2015. He added that the figure does not take into account those killed in land and air operations launched jointly by the armies of Niger and Chad in Nigeria.
On March 8, Chad and Niger launched a joint major air and ground operation against Boko Haram militants in Nigeria as part of a regional push to end the militant group's violence.
Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” controls large parts of northeastern Nigeria. Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria are the four African countries which have been directly affected by the growing threat of Boko Haram in recent months.
In late January, the African Union called for a regional force of 7,500 troops to fight Boko Haram militants and is now pushing for a UN Security Council mandate for the operation.
More than 13,000 people have been killed and over a million made homeless as a result of Boko Haram violence since 2009.
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