African Countries Form Military Alliance Against Boko Haram Islamist Group

Cameroon, Benin and Nigeria have joined Niger and Chad in a new military alliance against the Boko Haram extremist group as more African countries closed ranks to fight off a common enemy.

Leaders of African countries are set to hold a summit to formalize a new joint strategy after creating the Multi-National Joint Task Force.

In a statement, the Economic Community of Central African States said it has joined the Economic Community of West African States "in the face of the mounting and increasingly bloody attacks by the fundamentalists against Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad and the serious consequences for these countries, and the real risk of destabilizing western and central Africa."

The creation of such a coalition was prompted by the failure of Nigeria's armed forces to repel the six-year-old Boko Haram insurgency.

"The Nigerian people have been wary of the military for a long time," said Scott Stewart, Vice President of Tactical Analysis for global intelligence and advisory firm Stratfor.

"Ever since they became a democratic state in 1999, they have been working hard to undermine the military and one of the ways they have done that was not to fund them," Stewart said.

He said the "mindset of the Nigerian people and their tactics" left their own forces without sufficient arms to fight off militants "as extreme as Boko Haram."

"The Nigerian soldiers are being sent out with nothing but 30 rounds in their rifles," he said. "Basically they are firing their 30 rounds and running."

While attempts by Nigerian forces to fight off the militants were less than stellar, the campaigns launched by Chad and other African forces were more successful.

The African Multi-National Joint Task Force has started wiping out Boko Haram from the northern Nigerian border near Lake Chad, which has long been a haven for the militants given its jungles. The border between Cameroon and Nigeria were often without guards, enabling militants to easily attack farms, villages and businesses before quickly crossing back into Nigeria.

"The current offensive has them being driven from the border. And it's come with outside help," Stewart said. "Now they can't use the border as a refuge."

Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou said Boko Haram is "the worst enemy of Islam," during a recent visit to the United States.

"There is nothing Islamic about Boko Haram. Abducting and raping women, killing innocent people, drinking human blood ... these are not the most efficient ways of spreading Islam," he told students and staff at the Harvard Institute of Politics John F. Kennedy Forum.

"Boko Haram has no future; Boko Haram will be defeated, God willing," he added.

The combined forces of countries surrounding Nigeria have successfully driven back Boko Haram through pre-emptive strikes as the militant group try to form a caliphate of its own across central Africa.

According to officials of Chad army, their own troops, along with forces from Niger, have successfully pushed back Boko Haram from one of their last major footholds in Malam Fatori, along Nigeria's frontier with Niger.

"The Chadians have a huge interest in pushing Boko Haram back from the border," said Stewart. "They are very concerned but they are also very well-prepared and fairly well trained."

Hundreds of militants were reportedly killed in the Chadian army's attempt to retake the territory.