President Buhari To Visit Cameroon After Ramadan

Nigeria's President Muhammadu
Buhari has accepted an invitation to travel to
Cameroon for talks on regional cooperation
to defeat Boko Haram Islamist extremists, his
office said on Tuesday.
Cameroon's President Paul Biya was a
noticeable absentee at a recent summit of
regional leaders in Abuja to cement a new
fighting force to take on the insurgents.
Observers attributed his absence to strained
ties between the two neighbours, who
squabbled for decades over the sovereignty
of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula until it was
ceded to Cameroon.
Buhari last week told AFP in an interview that
he was planning to visit Cameroon. On
Tuesday he accepted an invitation from Biya
delivered by one of his ministers, Buhari's
office said in a statement.
"President Buhari said that he will visit
Cameroon for the high-level talks soon after
the end of the Ramadan fast," the statement
read.
Buhari, 72, has made eradicating Boko
Haram a priority for his fledgling
administration, which has been in power for
less than a month.
Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin
have all agreed that a new 8,700-strong
force should be deployed by July 30 to take
on the Islamists.
The Nigerian government under Buhari's
predecessor Goodluck Jonathan frequently
complained about Boko Haram using
northern Cameroon as a base to attack
northeast Nigeria.
Biya's envoy, Sadi Rene Emmanuel, told
Buhari of Cameroon's "fraternity, sympathy
and brotherly commitment" to working with
Nigeria to "eradicate the scourge of
terrorism", Buhari's office said.