Nigerian Leader Issues Warning: Weapons Sent to Ukraine Are Ending Up in Hands of Terrorist Groups in North Africa

 

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari warned last week that weapons from the raging war between Russia and Ukraine are now finding their way into the Lake Chad Basin region.

Daily Trust reports that the president while speaking at the 16th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), held at the Conference Hall of the Presidential Villa, said all hands must be on deck to fight the proliferation of these weapons into the region.

The Daily Trust reported:

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said weapons from the raging war between Russia and Ukraine are now slipping into the Lake Chad Basin region. 

Lake Chad region, an economically and socially integrated area in West and Central Africa straddling Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.

In his opening address at the 16th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), held at the Conference Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari, who is also the Chairman of the Summit, said the situation which had heightened the proliferation of small arms and light weapons called for reawakening of the border security of the countries of the region.

President Buhari said the Russia/Ukraine conflict and other violent situations in the Sahel region of West Africa had compounded the Boko Haram terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin region.

Buhari added:

“Regrettably, the situation in the Sahel and the raging war in Ukraine serve as major sources of weapons and fighters that bolster the ranks of the terrorists in Lake Chad Region. A substantial proportion of the arms and ammunitions procured to execute the war in Libya, continues to find its way to the Lake Chad Region and other parts of the Sahel. Weapons being used for the war in Ukraine and Russia are equally beginning to filter to the region.

“This illegal movement of arms into the region has heightened the proliferation of small arms and light weapons which continues to threaten our collective peace and security in the region. There is therefore, the urgent need for expedited collaborative actions by our border control agencies and other security services to stop the circulation of all illegal weapons in the region,” he said.