UN – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, is to visit Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad from April 16 to April 20, to highlight the growing threat Boko Haram poses to the Lake Chad Basin region.
This is contained in a statement issued by the U.S. State Department on Friday in New York.
It said that in Nigeria, Power would engage with the Nigerian leadership and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Abuja before travelling to the North East region to visit a settlement camp for civilians displaced by Boko Haram’s violence.
She would also host a town hall meeting with students and would participate in a Peace through Sports event with young Nigerians.
According to the statement, Boko Haram is one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world.
It added that the group posed an acute threat to civilians across the Lake Chad Basin, and the group’s increasing lethality and relationship with ISIL was a cause for alarm.
The U.S. reiterated its pledge 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.
It noted that the U.S would also work with partners to ensure a well-resourced stabilisation and governance strategy, and expanded efforts to combat violent extremism.
In Cameroon, it said, Power would meet with government officials and CSOs in its capital, Yaoundé.
She would also travel internally to meet with refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and Cameroonian forces on the front lines of the regional effort to combat Boko Haram.
She would also participate in a public destruction of confiscated ivory and pangolin scales, demonstrating the strong U.S.-Cameroonian partnership to counter wildlife trafficking.
While in Chad, Power would meet with government officials in N’Djamena and visit the headquarters for the Multinational Joint Task Force, a regional military effort composed of Boko Haram-affected states in the Lake Chad Basin.
Power is also expected to meet with Chadian CSOs and civilians affected by the violence. (NAN)