Boko Haram risks spreading in region, Guinea leader says
Boko Haram risks spreading in region, Guinea leader says
AFP, 22 Dec 2014
URL: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/22/world/boko-haram-risks-spreading-region-guinea-leader-says/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=boko-haram-risks-spreading-region-guinea-leader-says#.VJfs9sPwAA
PARIS – Guinea’s president warned Sunday that Islamic extremism risked spreading throughout West Africa and called on countries in the region to do more to help Nigeria in its struggle against Boko Haram.
Alpha Conde’s comments came after the radical group kidnapped 185 people in northeast Nigeria on Dec. 14, in a chillingly similar event to the April abduction in Chibok of more than 200 schoolgirls.
“If there is a problem in one country, if we don’t put out the fire it will spread to the other countries,” Conde told TV5 Monde television in a Sunday interview.
“We hope that we will become aware of this and put an end to the danger of Boko Haram.
“Today it spreads to Cameroon, tomorrow it will be Niger, or Mali, or Guinea. … It’s not because we don’t have common borders that we are not threatened.”
Conde said African states had not helped Nigeria enough and needed to be “more responsible.”
Boko Haram has carried out a series of abductions in Nigeria this year, boosting their supply of child fighters, porters and young women reportedly used as sex slaves.
Alpha Conde’s comments came after the radical group kidnapped 185 people in northeast Nigeria on Dec. 14, in a chillingly similar event to the April abduction in Chibok of more than 200 schoolgirls.
“If there is a problem in one country, if we don’t put out the fire it will spread to the other countries,” Conde told TV5 Monde television in a Sunday interview.
“We hope that we will become aware of this and put an end to the danger of Boko Haram.
“Today it spreads to Cameroon, tomorrow it will be Niger, or Mali, or Guinea. … It’s not because we don’t have common borders that we are not threatened.”
Conde said African states had not helped Nigeria enough and needed to be “more responsible.”
Boko Haram has carried out a series of abductions in Nigeria this year, boosting their supply of child fighters, porters and young women reportedly used as sex slaves.