Subscribe Login
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Business Bites
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Videos
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obits
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Business Bites
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Videos
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obits
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
  • Home
  • News
    • International News
  • Latest
  • Business
    • Business Bites
  • Cartoon
  • Games
  • Food Awards
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Bookends
  • Regional
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • World Cup
    • World Champs
    • Olympics
  • Videos
  • Career & Education
  • Classifieds
  • All Woman
  • Environment
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Football
    • Elections
    • Letters
    • Advertorial
    • Columns
    • Editorial
    • Supplements
  • Epaper
  • Design Week
Boko Haram attack Chinese work camp in Cameroon
Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan
News
May 16, 2014

Boko Haram attack Chinese work camp in Cameroon

Group is ‘an al-Qaida operation’ says Nigeria President

PARIS (AP) — Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan says Boko Haram, which is holding more than 200 girls captive, is “acting clearly as an al-Qaida operation” and is no longer a local problem.

President Jonathan joined four other African leaders and representatives of France, Britain and the US on Saturday to hammer out details of an international response to the Islamic extremist group.

French President Francois Hollande said the effort will involve sharing intelligence, protecting borders, and quick action in a crisis.

Hollande also emphasized that Boko Haram had clearly established ties with other terror groups in Africa, making it a problem throughout the continent and beyond.

Hours after yet another attack in a Boko Haram stronghold, African leaders and Western officials drew the outlines of an international plan to share intelligence and coordinate the fight against the Islamic extremist group holding more than 200 girls captive.

The militants, who claim to be fighting a holy war in Nigeria, move freely across the border into neighbouring Cameroon, where a Chinese engineering firm’s camp came under attack late Friday. The camp was in the same nearly trackless parkland where the school girls were spirited away.

The leaders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin met Saturday with French, US and British officials in hopes of coordinating strategy and sharing intelligence to find the girls.

Boko Haram has offered to exchange the 276 girls who remain captive for jailed insurgents, and threaten otherwise to sell them into slavery.

“Boko Haram’s strategy, contrary to all civilization, is to destabilize Nigeria and to destroy the fundamental principles of human dignity,” Hollande said during the working lunch. “More than 200 young girls threatened with slavery is the proof.”

Officials have said there will be no Western military operation. British officials say Nigerian President Jonathan, who has reluctantly accepted outside help, has ruled out swapping prisoners for the girls.

On Friday, Jonathan cancelled a trip to the town where the girls were seized, apparently due to security concerns.

Signs are growing that some Nigerian troops are near mutiny, complaining they are overwhelmed and outgunned by Boko Haram. Soldiers have told The Associated Press that some in the ranks actually fight alongside the group. Last year, Jonathan said he suspected that Boko Haram members and sympathizers had infiltrated every level of his government and military, including the Cabinet.

That complicates attempts to share intelligence. The US, France and Britain have all sent experts to help find the girls, but French and American officials have expressed concerns about how any information might be used.

The northeastern region where the girls were kidnapped has suffered five years of increasingly deadly assaults by Boko Haram. Thousands have been killed, including more than 1,500 civilians this year.

Cameroon, which borders the region, has begun to take the threat more seriously after years of dismissing it as a Nigerian problem, French officials say.

France has negotiated the release of citizens held by Boko Haram in Cameroon and officials were hoping Saturday’s summit would set the outlines of a more international approach.

Chinese state media reported that 10 people were missing in the Friday night attack on the camp in a region where Boko Haram has previously abducted foreigners, including a French family of seven and a priest.

Hollande’s administration successfully negotiated the release of the French citizens, and officials in Paris said France’s experience dealing with Boko Haram as well as its good relations with the governments concerned were the impetus for the summit.

China is a major investor in Cameroon, helping build infrastructure, public health projects and sports facilities and importing crude oil, timber and cotton.

{"website":"website"}{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
img img
0 Comments · Make a comment

ALSO ON JAMAICA OBSERVER

SGR to host Dynamic Elevated Lifestyle Open House
Latest News, News
SGR to host Dynamic Elevated Lifestyle Open House
June 22, 2026
Stella Global Realty (SGR) Jamaica Ltd has officially announced it will host the Dynamic Elevated Lifestyle Open House on Saturday, June 27, 2026. The...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Holness to meet Wheatley after Cabinet about troubling IC report
Latest News, News
Holness to meet Wheatley after Cabinet about troubling IC report
June 22, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says he will be meeting with embattled Minister of Science, Technology and Special Projects Dr An...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Famed music executive Clive Davis dead at 94 — US media
International News, Latest News
Famed music executive Clive Davis dead at 94 — US media
June 22, 2026
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Clive Davis, the music mastermind who championed some of the globe's biggest names including Whitney Houston, Bruce ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
17 Haitians taken into police custody after arriving in Portland
Latest News, News
17 Haitians taken into police custody after arriving in Portland
June 22, 2026
PORTLAND, Jamaica — Seventeen Haitians arrived in the Passley Gardens area of Port Antonio, Portland on Monday. Observer Online learnt that they were ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Woman files lawsuit against Barbados gov’t over COVID-19 vaccine
Latest News, Regional
Woman files lawsuit against Barbados gov’t over COVID-19 vaccine
June 22, 2026
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — A woman has filed a lawsuit against the Barbados Government alleging that she has suffered serious health complications a...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
US military says two alleged ‘narco-terrorists’ killed in latest strike in Caribbean Sea
Latest News, Regional
US military says two alleged ‘narco-terrorists’ killed in latest strike in Caribbean Sea
June 22, 2026
MIAMI, United States (CMC) — The Miami-based United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that two alleged male “narco-terrorists” were killed in a ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Kenya health minister in contempt over US Ebola site, says court
International News, Latest News
Kenya health minister in contempt over US Ebola site, says court
June 22, 2026
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — Kenya's high court found the country's health minister in contempt on Monday over the continued construction of an Ebola facili...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
UK Labour leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham sworn in as MP
International News, Latest News
UK Labour leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham sworn in as MP
June 22, 2026
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Fresh from his United Kingdom (UK) by-election victory last week, veteran Labour politician Andy Burnham took another s...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
❮ ❯

Polls

HOUSE RULES

  1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper; email addresses will not be published.
  2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.
  3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.
  4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.
  5. Please don't use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed: advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.
  6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.
  7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

Archives

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Tweets

Polls

Recent Posts

Archives

Logo Jamaica Observer
Breaking news from the premier Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer. Follow Jamaican news online for free and stay informed on what's happening in the Caribbean
Featured Tags
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Health
  • Auto
  • Business
  • Letters
  • Page2
  • Football
Categories
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
Ads
img
Jamaica Observer, © All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feeds
  • Feedback
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Code of Conduct