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Nigerian president declares "war on Boko Haram" at inauguration

Xinhua, May 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari declared war on Boko Haram, a militant group that has been waging an insurgency in Africa's most populous nation for almost six years, during his inauguration ceremony on Friday.

In his first speech as president, Buhari announced that the military will relocate their command center to Maiduguri, capital of the restive northeastern state of Borno, and remain there until "Boko Haram is completely subdued."

Although progress has been made in recent weeks by the government forces in taking on the militants, Buhari noted that "victory can not be achieved by basing the command and control center in Abuja, the nation's capital, while thousands of citizens were being killed in the northeastern region."

Nigeria's armed forces will be "fully charged with prosecuting the fight against Boko Haram from now", he said, adding that his administration will "overhaul the rules of engagement" to avoid human rights violation in the military operations.

The president also pledged the government will do "all it can" to rescue those held by Boko Haram, including the more than 200 girls abducted by the group from a school in the town of Chibok in Borno last year.

"We can not claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents," he said.

Boko Haram, which seeks to establish an Islamic State in Nigeria, has killed over 15,000 people since 2009. Endi