Nigeria's Boko Haram unrest: African leaders urged to act

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Nigerian military manning checkpoints in Maiduguri, North East Nigeria. (File image)


African states should act quickly and collectively to curb the growing threat posed by Nigeria's militant Islamists, the African Union chief has said.
Cross-border raids into Cameroon showed the dangers the Boko Haram group posed, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said.
Nigeria has rejected AU or UN intervention, saying regional armies are capable of dealing with the threat.
Its troops repelled a new attack by Boko Haram on the key north-eastern city of Maiduguri on Sunday night.
Boko Haram launched a full-scale insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009 to create an Islamic state.
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Soldiers and security block a road as they secure the venue during a rally of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Maiduguri on 24 January 2015The military was out in force in Maiduguri during President Goodluck Jonathan's visit on Saturday
In an address to African foreign ministers at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Ms Dlamini-Zuma said recent attacks by Boko Haram were deeply horrifying.
AU heads of state had agreed to include the conflict on the agenda of their summit, due to begin on Friday, she said.
Correspondents say Boko Haram and Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab will now dominate the summit, which was supposed to focus on women's empowerment and development.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Nigeria on Sunday to call for peaceful elections next month.
Boko Haram seized the north-eastern Nigerian town of Monguno on Sunday, raising further doubts about whether elections could be held across the country on 14 February.

It controls many towns and villages in the north-eastern Borno state and Maiduguri, the state capital, is seen as a prized scalp for the group.

The conflict has caused a humanitarian crisis affecting some three million people, Nigerian officials say.

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