West African Nations Set Aside Their Old Suspicions To Combat Boko Haram, by Maïa de la Baume and Alissa J Reuben, The New York Times
"The heads of state of five West African countries, including Nigeria, met Saturday with Western officials and agreed to share intelligence and strengthen military cooperation to combat the regional threat from the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram, which abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria last month.
"At the request of Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, President François Hollande of France organized the meeting, which was also attended by the heads of state of Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin, countries that border Nigeria and that have long been suspicious of one another. The borders among the countries are notoriously porous, and Boko Haram’s adherents have easily slipped across them.
“'We have decided to set up a general, regional action plan on the medium and longer term,” Mr. Hollande said, noting that there would be “intelligence coordination, sharing of information, centralization of means, border surveillance,” among other activities."
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