The Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and Benin hosted the second meeting of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) on the African Union (AU) Additional Support to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) against Boko Haram in Ndjamena, Chad from 18-20 December, 2017. 

This meeting was attended by representatives from the African Union Commission, LCBC, MNJTF Troops Contributing Countries (TCCs) including Cameroun, Chad Niger, Nigeria and Benin as asll as UNOAU.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Secretary of the LCBC and the Head of Mission of the MNJTF,  Engineer Sanusi Abdullahi welcomed the convening of this second JSC meeting and reiterated the need for additional support to meet MNJTF operational requirements. He highlighted the importance of the JSC and called for it to be strengthened in order to ensure effective and timely interventions. He noted the active participation of UNOAU which provides technical support to AU Peace Support Operations (PSOs) across the continent. Engineer Abdullahi also requested that such support be extended to the European Union and possibly the UN Resident Coordinator in Chad, especially as the LCBC moves towards the implementation of its stabilization strategy. The meeting also deliberated on the support that the AU has directly provided so far to the MNJTF as well as those of the strategic partners.