Western powers are pressing the United Nations to designate Boko Haram a terrorist organization as early as next week, senior U.S. officials said Saturday, in an effort to turn up pressure on the insurgent group behind the kidnapping of hundreds of school girls in Nigeria.
Western powers are in the final stages of submitting a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would include Boko Haram on a list of terrorist groups subject to sanctions such as asset freezes and travel bans. "It could be next week. It could be that quick," U.S. Under Secretary Wendy Sherman told reporters in Paris, adding: "Frankly I can't imagine any country who would not support this designation."
The U.S. and its allies are under intense public pressure to do something to rescue the nearly 223 girls held by Boko Haram, but Western powers are also wary of teaming up with Nigeria's erratic leader, President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ms. Sherman was speaking on the sidelines of international talks in Paris on Saturday that carved out a preliminary agreement for intelligence swaps and tighter military cooperation between Nigeria and African countries that border the vast hinterlands where Boko Haram operates. But the U.S. and its allies balked at adopting any measures that would commit Western powers to handing over intelligence to Nigeria or make Western troops available for a possible rescue mission.
Mr. Jonathan has faced searing criticism over his sluggish response to the kidnapping, and on Friday he angered the girls' families by skipping a trip to their town in northeastern Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan instead traveled to Paris, where he met with French President François Hollande and the leaders of Cameroon, Chad, Benin and Niger in the chandelier-laden halls of the Élysée Palace. "We are totally committed to ensure that these girls are found," Mr. Jonathan told reporters after the summit.
Meeting with the girls' families was impossible, Mr. Jonathan said, because they are geographically "scattered." "There is no one family you can go and visit," he added. Under the Saturday accord, African leaders agreed to establish a special unit to pool intelligence and to coordinate patrols and surveillance along Nigeria's border
Boko Haram's cross-border capabilities were highlighted late Friday as suspected militants attacked a Chinese road-construction company in Cameroon, kidnapping 10 workers, driving away vehicles and stealing blasting material.
Key challenges, Mr. Hollande said, included clamping down on foreign financing to the group and cutting off arms deliveries that the French leader said where arriving from Libyan territory. The meeting yielded no answers as to whether Western powers are ready to hand over intelligence to Nigeria if they locate where the girls are held.
Nigeria's military has faced allegations of widespread human-rights abuses, which it denies, and Western officials have doubts about whether the military can carry out a rescue mission without endangering the hostages. "If there were to be a rescue operation, that's a very specific skill set and not every army in the world has that skill set," Ms. Sherman said. She reiterated that the U.S. has no plans to commit troops to such a mission. Any intelligence the U.S. shares with Nigeria, Ms. Sherman said, "has to get used in a way that's consistent with our values."
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