UNSC alarmed over Boko Haram joining DAESH

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has expressed alarm over links between Nigeria's Boko Haram militants and DAESH terrorist organisation.

In a statement, the UNSC said that Boko Haram relentlessly continues to disrupt the peace and stability in West and Central Africa.

Earlier, the UN Security Council voiced its deep concern on "the alarming scale" of the humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram's activities in the Lake Chad Basin region. It demanded that the group "immediately and unequivocally cease all violence and all abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law."

A senior US official has also raised concern at reports of Boko Haram militants coming into the folds of DAESH in Libya.

Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has summoned the Second Regional Security Summit for Saturday in Abuja to evaluate the regional response to the threat posed by Boko Haram. The UNSC members have welcomed the "crucial initiative" and also expressed their support.

Buhari's counterparts from Cameron, Chad, Benin and Niger will gather for the summit in Abuja beside the French President Francois Hollande, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Blinken, who is already present in Nigeria, has expressed concern over reports of Boko Haram militants heading to Libya, which has witnessed a growing influence of DAESH over a period of time.

"We've seen that Boko Haram's ability to communicate has become more effective," he said, adding, "They seem to have benefited from assistance from DAESH."

Boko Haram was founded in 2002 with an initial aim to act against Western education. The militant group launched its military operations in 2009 and since then, the group killed nearly 20,000 people and captured more than a thousand school girls in order to use them as slaves.