Child abduction

Niger is set to send troops to Nigeria for the multi-national battle against Boko Haram after scores of people were killed in a fresh onslaught by the Islamist fighters in a key border town.

Turkish police search for nearly 4,000 missing children every month in Turkey, while 2,600 people have been found in the past four months.     

Boko Haram fighters on Feb. 1 launched a fresh attempt to take over the strategically crucial northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a brazen attack on a state capital just two weeks before national elections.

The African Union called Jan. 30 for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the "horrendous" rise of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants.
 
The call for collective action came as leaders of the 54-member bloc opened their two-day annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where they were addressing a string of crises across the continent.
 

African leaders meet on Jan. 30 for their annual summit with conflict topping the agenda, especially Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgents, as well as efforts to stem Ebola.

Nigeria's military fought Boko Haram militants in the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri on Jan. 25, as US Secretary of State John Kerry jetted in to discuss fears about election-related violence.
      

Nigeria's top security official on Friday ruled out the need for a United Nations or African Union-backed force to fight Boko Haram, saying the country and its partners could handle the threat.
      

Hundreds of people from four villages near the devastated Nigerian town of Baga have been forced to flee after a warning from Boko Haram militants, witnesses and community leaders said Jan. 20.
      
News of the exodus from Kekenu, Budur, Yoyo and Mile 90 villages came as Niger hosted a meeting on how to fight the rebels as concern mounted at the threat to regional security.

Serbia expresses "full solidarity" with Nigeria

BELGRADE -- The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended on Friday its deepest condolences to the federal government and people of Nigeria.

The condolences were sent "especially to families of the late and displaced people from the city of Baga."

BELGRADE - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia extended on Friday its deepest condolences to the federal government and people of Nigeria, particularly the families of the late and displaced people from the city of Baga.