WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said
Tuesday a multinational African force will be in place
within 10 days to take the fight to the Islamic extremist
group Boko Haram that has killed thousands and was behind
the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls.
Buhari predicted in an interview with
The Associated Press that Boko Haram would be defeated in 18
months or less. But he conceded that Nigerian authorities
lack intelligence about the girls still missing after the
mass-kidnapping from the northern town of Chibok in April
2014 - an act that stirred international outrage and a
campaign to "Bring Back Our Girls" that reached as far as
the White House.
He said his government is open to
freeing detained militants in exchange for the girls'
freedom, but only if it finds credible Boko Haram leaders to
negotiate with.
"I think Nigeria will make as much
sacrifice as humanly possible to get the girls back. This is
our main objective," Buhari said, a day after meeting with
President Barack Obama.
Buhari spoke at the presidential guest
house opposite the White House in a room decorated with
murals of ceremonial Washington. He wore a traditional
embroidered hat, popular among Muslims in northern Nigeria.
The visit by the 72-year old former
dictator comes two months after taking office. Both Nigeria
and the United States look to improve relations that soured
because of government and military failures under Buhari's
predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, who was defeated in March
elections. Obama said Monday the U.S. wants to cooperate on
counter-terrorism and in combating corruption in Africa's
largest economy and oil producer.
The elections heralded the first
democratic change of power in the West African nation that
has suffered decades of military rule, but Buhari faces
formidable challenges - not least the Boko Haram insurgency
that has killed more than 13,000 people and driven another
1.5 million from their homes.
Buhari, a former general, last week
fired the service chiefs of the once-mighty Nigerian
military, which he has accused of corruption. But he
expressed confidence that the Islamists that have launched
suicide bombings and village attacks since his inauguration,
killing hundreds, would be surrounded and eliminated with
the help of neighboring Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger. He
said the multinational force would be ready by the end of
the month.
"We are going to deny them
recruitment. We are going to deny them free movement across
borders. We are going to deny them training. We are going to
deny them receiving reinforcement in terms of equipment,"
said Buhari, who studied 35 years ago at the U.S. Army War
College.
Boko Haram in March declared an
affiliation with the Islamic State group, and Buhari said it
has links with Islamist militants in northern Mali. But he
predicted that the multinational force could break the back
of Boko Haram within 18 months.
Despite the fighting talk, the
Nigerian leader said he remained open to negotiations over
the kidnapped girls but said it was first necessary to
establish that those claiming to negotiate on behalf of the
insurgents were really Boko Haram leaders who know the
girls' location and condition.
Dozens of the schoolgirls escaped in
the days after the abduction, but 219 remain missing.
A human rights activist told AP this
month that the extremists are offering to free the girls in
exchange for the release of captured militant leaders.
Buhari said: "We just can't say yes or no in a sort of an
impulsive manner. We have to establish the facts before we
agree" to negotiations.
Buhari's early visit to Washington is
a sign of the importance the U.S. attaches to good relations
with Nigeria, the world's seventh-most populous nation at
170 million and America's top trading partner in Africa. Top
U.S. trade and finance officials have met the Nigerian
delegation, and Buhari was meeting Tuesday with the chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and CIA
Director John Brennan, where he would be urging more
American help against Boko Haram.
"The United States is very clear of
the situation. What we need is intelligence, we need
training facilities, we need some equipment," he said.
Buhari acknowledged U.S. concerns over
human rights abuses by Nigeria's military. Amnesty
International has accused the Nigerian army's leadership of
complicity in the death of 8,000 detainees in the battle
against Boko Haram. Such concerns prompted Washington last
year to block the sale of U.S. attack helicopters. Buhari
said that new military chiefs were retraining forces and
would adhere to internationally acceptable rules of
engagement.
Nigeria also wants U.S. help in
recovering government funds and the proceeds of crude oil
exports that have been illegally diverted from the nation's
coffers, also hit by the decline in world oil prices.
In a Washington Post opinion
commentary on Monday, Buhari wrote that $150 billion in
funds have been stolen in the past decade and held in
foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt
officials.
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Associated Press writer Michelle Faul
contributed to this report from Lagos, Nigeria.