The federal government has formally asked the U.N. Security Council al Qaeda sanctions committee to blacklist the Islamist militant group Boko Haram after the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls, a U.N. diplomat said on Tuesday.
According to Reuters reports, if there are no objections from the 15-member council committee, which operates by consensus, Boko Haram will be sanctioned at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Thursday, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Difficult to object to such a request by the concerned country,” said one of the council diplomats.
Until recently, Nigeria has been reluctant to seek international assistance in combating Boko Haram.
The document submitted by Nigeria to support its blacklisting request references a bomb attack on the United Nations’ Nigeria headquarters on Aug. 26, 2011 that killed 24 people, diplomats said.
