Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has accepted French President Francois Hollande invitation to attend a Boko Haram security summit on Saturday in Paris, according to a French Official, the Associated Press reported.
Hollande announced Sunday the summit would focus on the Islamist terrorist network, which abducted more than 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria last month, according to the AP.
France also said the summit with Nigeria would include leaders of the four countries bordering Nigeria: Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, as well as representatives of Britain, the European Union and the United States, the AP reported.
According to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because details on the summit have not been finalized, France is still awaiting confirmation from leaders of all the other countries, according to the AP.
The failure to rescue more than 200 girls who remain captive has attracted international outrage and experts from the United States, France, Britain, China, Israel and Spain are expected in Nigeria to help the authorities, the AP reported.
"With Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, I have proposed to hold a meeting with the countries bordering Nigeria," Hollande said during a visit to the Azeri capital of Baku, according to the AP. "If the countries agree, it should take place next Saturday" in Paris, Hollande added.
Nigeria's army has mobilized two divisions to hunt for the schoolgirls as Jonathan's government has faced criticism for not responding more quickly to the abductions, the AP reported.
Boko Haram has also been held accountable for the kidnapping of a French priest who was released in December after being detained for a month in Cameroon, a region where Boko Haram is known to operate, according to the AP.
The group also kidnapped a French family of seven on holiday in northern Cameroon in February 2013 and released them the following April, the AP reported.
