The African Union (AU) and the UN on Friday urged global action against the radical Islamist group, Boko Haram.
AU Commission chairwoman, Nkosazana Zuma said in Addis Ababa.
Zuma also called for better African health care systems to combat the Ebola virus at an AU summit in Addis Ababa.
“Boko Haram “has now spread to the region beyond Nigeria and requires a collective, effective and decisive response,’’ Zuma said.
According to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, terrorism knows no boundaries and affects African countries in the Horn, the Sahel and elsewhere.
“In Nigeria and beyond, we are all appalled by the brutality of Boko Haram, which poses a clear danger to national, regional and international security,’’ Ban said.
Report says no fewer than 15 AU leaders met prior to the summit backed plans to deploy a 7,500-strong West African force to fight Boko Haram.
It added that the group killed thousands of people in northern Nigeria in 2014 and has increasingly extended its attacks to neighbouring Cameroon.
The AU summit also focused on the Ebola virus that has killed over 8,000 people in the west of the continent.
Participants screened for signs of the disease on entering the conference venue.
“In spite of clear signs of progress in fighting Ebola, this outbreak shows the risk that fragile health systems pose for our interconnected world.
“Affordable, quality healthcare must be a central feature of Africa’s development agenda,’’ Ban said.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who was appointed the new AU chairman, stressed the need for Africa to control its own natural resources.
“Oil, oil, oil, everybody talks about African oil.
“The colonial powers were too blind to find it, thanks to God! African resources belong to Africa and to nobody else,’’ Mugabe said.
Report says the 90-year-old Mugabe, succeeded Mauritania’s Abdel Aziz at the annually rotating post.
