YAOUNDE, 14 October 2015:Â The African Union (AU) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) will this Friday sign an agreement to operationalize the Multinational Joint Force to fight against Boko Haram terrorist group, a senior AU official said Monday in Yaounde.
AU’s Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui said the agreement will be signed in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
The force which was created in February with its headquarters in Chad’s capital city N’Djamena, is comprised of soldiers from Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, the four member states of LCBC together with Benin. It was initially expected to be operational by July this year.
Besides the financial and logistics challenges, the mandate of the regional force is equally supposed to be defined by a UN Security Council resolution, after being validated by the African Union.
Under the Nigerian command, the force will have a total of 10,500 officers who will include 8,500 soldiers and 2,000 police officers.
The signing of the agreement between AU and LCBC has become imperative especially given the increased suicide attacks by the terrorist group in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.
“Still on Oct. 16, AU communication materials currently kept in Bangui will be transported to N’Djamena to give the multinational force the means for coordinating operations against Boko Haram,” Chergui said.
 and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) will this Friday sign an agreement to operationalize the Multinational Joint Force to fight aga){kind=link}