Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is set to make his first official visit to one-time enemy Cameroon on Wednesday.
This is to ease tensions and bolster support for a multinational army to fight the Boko Haram.
Recently, Nigeria accused Cameroon of doing little to prevent Boko Haram from using their territory as a refuge.
On Monday, Boko Haram killed at least 29 people in two Christian villages in northeast Nigeria, while in Cameroon, suicide bombings claimed 60 lives over the past week.
However, Multinational troops earlier this year forced the extremists out of towns they had held, but now, Nigerian politicians say Boko Haram is again seizing territory. A
Nigerian presidential statement said talks would focus on “full activation and deployment” of an 8,700-strong multinational army.
Since his inauguration on May 29, Buhari has already visited Chad and Niger, two other neighbours of Nigeria that, like Cameroon, have been targeted in cross-border attacks by the Nigeria-based jihadists.
The visit to Cameroon “aims to build a strong regional alliance to confront Boko Haram,” another spokesman for Buhari, Garba Shehu, told AFP.
Shehu declined to give details on the deployment of regional troops, but insisted it “will still be at the end of this month.”
A long-awaited Multi-National Joint Task Force, was due to have been operational in November.
A new commander for the 8,700-strong fighting force is expected to be named to replace its former Nigerian leader, Major General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, who was appointed earlier this month as chief of staff of Nigeria’s army.
Boko Haram attacks in Chad, Cameroon and Niger have claimed dozens of lives in the past weeks.
Heavy fighting broke out Monday between the Chadian army and Boko Haram jihadists hiding out islands in Lake Chad, security and local sources said.
“Violent clashes” took place near Baga Sola, one of the main Chadian towns in the lake that straddles Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, a Chadian security source told AFP.
Boko Haram had earlier this month claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings in N’Djamena that left 38 people dead, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
Three days later, at least 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a crowded market in the Chadian capital.
