Benin: Benin sends 800 troops to fight Boko Haram
Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi announced he will send 800 troops to join a new multinational force tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants after meeting with his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday.
Buhari, who was sworn in on 29 May, is facing a particularly deadly surge of Islamist violence at home, with more than 800 people killed in north-eastern Nigeria in the last two months.
The violence has spread to neighbours Chad and Cameroon, both of whom have faced an unprecedented wave of suicide bombings on their soil in recent weeks.