Nigeria hosts security summit on battling Insurgence

World powers turned their focus to the Boko Haram terror group this weekend as regional leaders gathered in Nigeria to devise ways to tackle the Islamist extremist movement.

In a presidential statement issued Friday, the Security Council expressed alarm at Boko Haram's links to ISIS and stressed that the group's activities "undermine the peace and stability of the West and Central African region."

It also said it was concerned over the food security crisis in the region and cited the widespread displacement caused by Boko Haram.

Leaders from Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger were among the delegates, alongside French President Francois Hollande, and high-ranking diplomats from the US, UK and the European Union.

The leaders were expected to sign "new agreements on further defense" as part of a regional security summit in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, Femi Adesina, media advisor to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, said.

Nigeria is seeking closer military cooperation to bring to an end nearly seven years of violence in the northeast, which has left at least 20,000 dead and forced more than 2.6 million people from their homes.

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".

Martin Ewi, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, told Al Jazeera that the group is particularly difficult to tackle in more remote areas far from major cities.

"I believe Buhari is acknowledging the difficulty and that it is not easy for the military to just go out there and eliminate Boko Haram," he said.

"The rural areas have always been neglected when it comes to security and that has always been the problem - the ungoverned places. In many of these regions, the police are only getting to know them now. Now it is coming back to haunt us."

France's Hollande, who arrived in Abuja late on Friday from the Central African Republic, met his Nigerian counterpart Buhari at the presidential villa before the start of the summit.

Both countries recently signed an agreement on closer military cooperation, including intelligence sharing, and France is keen to help implement a regional solution to the conflict, given its close ties to some of its former colonies in the region. 

The summit, two years after a first such high-level gathering in Paris - comes as Nigeria's military pushes deep into Boko Haram's Sambisa Forest stronghold after recapturing swathes of territory.