FRANCE has sent military advisers to Niger’s southern border with Nigeria to help coordinate military action by regional powers fighting the Islamist group, Boko Haram, a French army official said on Thursday.
The deployment was announced as war planes pounded Boko Haram positions just over the border in Nigeria, a resident in the Niger town of Bosso said and hundreds of Chadian troops massed at the frontier to prepare an attack.
Chad has sent about 2,500 troops as part of efforts to take on the militant group, which has intensified its fight to set up a breakaway Islamist state in Nigeria and has staged cross-border raids. Chadian troops crossed into Nigeria this week from Cameroon, on the Southern side of Lake Chad.
A French army official told Reuters, that a detachment of about 10 military personnel had been stationed in Diffa at the request of Niger, its former colony.
“It is there to coordinate the armies on the ground in the fight against Boko Haram,” the official said.
A source close to the Niger government told Reuters on Thursday, that the parliament in Niamey would vote on Monday to send its troops to Nigeria.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, President Francois Hollande, said Paris was also providing logistical and operation support, including by delivering fuel and munitions to countries fighting the Boko Haram sect.
However, he said France could not be expected to get involved in every crisis around the world and accused other major powers of inaction in Africa.
“This is a message to the international community and the big countries. Do your work; stop giving lessons and take action.” Hollande said.
“In Africa, we have to help the Africans a lot more to fight terrorism, because if we do not, then other countries will be destabilised,” he noted.