The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Samantha Power, is set to visit Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad for discussions on the growing threat the Islamic sect, Boko Haram poses to the Lake Chad Basin region.
A press statement from the United States Embassy said that the visit became necessary due to increasing concerns over the acute threat the group posed to civilians across the Lake Chad Basin and the group’s increasing lethality and relationship with the Islamic State also referred to as ISIS.
During her visit, Ambassador Power is expected to discuss ways to work with partners in the region to develop a comprehensive counter-Boko Haram effort that includes a more coordinated military campaign, improved humanitarian access and response, a well-resourced stabilisation and governance strategy, and expanded efforts to combat violent extremism.
In Cameroon, where she is expected to meet with government officials and civil society in its capital, Yaoundé, Ambassador Power will also travel internally to meet with refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, and Cameroonian forces on the front lines of the regional effort to end the activities of the terrorist group.
She will also meet with government officials, civil society and civilians affected by the violence in Chad and visit the headquarter for the Multinational Joint Task Force, a regional military effort composed of the Boko Haram-affected states in the Lake Chad Basin.
