ABUJA: Nigeria was on Saturday hosting talks on Boko Haram with regional and Western powers, as the United Nations warned of the militants' ties to the Islamic State group and its threat to African security.
Leaders from Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger were among the delegates, alongside French President Francois Hollande, and high-ranking diplomats from the United States, Britain and the European Union.
Nigeria is seeking closer military cooperation to bring to an end nearly seven years of violence in the remote northeast, which has left at least 20,000 dead and displaced more than 2.6 million people.
The UN Security Council on Friday said the talks should help develop "a comprehensive strategy to address the governance, security, development, socio-economic and humanitarian dimensions of the crisis".
But it also expressed "deep concern" at Boko Haram's threat to security in West and Central Africa and "alarm at... linkages with the Islamic State" group in Syria and Iraq.
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