A quest to win the hearts and minds: Assessing the Effectiveness of the Multinational Joint Task Force

In January 2015, the African Union (AU) authorised the Multinational Joint Task Force
(MNJTF) as a regional security arrangement of the Lake Chad Basin Commission
(LCBC) to deal with the threat of Boko Haram (BH) in the Lake Chad region. Its
mandate includes the responsibility of ensuring a safe and secure environment
in the areas affected by the BH insurgency, reducing violent attacks against
civilians, facilitating stabilisation programmes in the Lake Chad region, facilitating
humanitarian operations and the provision of assistance to affected populations.
To achieve its mandate, the MNJTF undertakes both kinetic and non-kinetic
operations. Its mandate has been renewed yearly since 2015, and in December
2022, the AU renewed its mandate for another 12 months. This report assesses the
effectiveness of the MNJTF in delivering on its three mandate priorities to generate
recommendations for the enhancement of the MNJTF´s overall effectiveness.