Three United States aircraft carrying troops and weapons have reportedly arrived in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The New York Times reports that the first plane arrived in the capital city on Thursday night, noting officials from both countries said the first batch of roughly 100 US troops will arrive in Nigeria over the weekend.
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By Friday evening, three planes were reported to have landed in Maiduguri, with equipment being offloaded from one of them.
These first arrivals mark the start of C-17 cargo planes heading to three different sites across Nigeria, a US Defence Department official told the newspaper, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of operational details.
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More aircraft transporting personnel and equipment are scheduled to arrive this weekend, with additional flights planned over the coming weeks, the official added.
The spokesperson for Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, Samaila Uba, a major general, said the US troops would not engage in combat operations. He mentioned this to the Wall Street Journal a few days ago when the US-based paper reported that the United States will deploy 200 troops to Nigeria.
“These personnel do not serve in a combat capacity and will not assume a direct operational role,” Mr Uba also told The New York Times. “Nigerian forces retain full command authority, make all operational decisions and will lead all missions on Nigerian sovereign territory.”
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Mr Uba said the deployment stemmed from recommendations made by a US-Nigeria joint working group and that the forces would serve in an advisory capacity at multiple sites.
A US Defence Department official corroborated this, emphasising that the American personnel would focus on non-combat roles and operate mainly from command centres.
The joint mission will extend across several unstable areas. A Nigerian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, told the newspaper that troops would be dispatched to northern states where jihadist groups such as Boko Haram have long operated, as well as to parts of the Middle Belt or North-central, where resource-based conflicts between mostly Muslim Fulani herders and Christian farmers have been framed as religious war.
The deployment comes after months of mounting pressure from President Trump, who has strongly criticised Nigeria’s government for what he describes as its failure to adequately protect Christians from deadly attacks carried out by Islamist militants and armed groups.
Although Christians have endured brutal assaults, Muslims and people of all beliefs have also been killed in significant numbers.
Late last year, Mr Trump ordered airstrikes in Nigeria on Christmas Day, saying it targeted Islamic State terrorists in the North-west who are responsible for killing Christians. The Nigerian government also said it cooperated with the US and provided the intelligence used for the strikes.
With American troops arriving at isolated sites lacking basic infrastructure, a Defence Department official told the Times that the troops will focus on establishing secure communications, building base facilities, and tightening operational security in coordination with Nigerian forces.
The personnel will reinforce a small contingent of US troops already in Nigeria. According to a Nigerian official who spoke anonymously, those advisers have been training Nigerian special operations units in combat skills such as map reading and interpretation, as well as in strike missions and rescue support.
READ ALSO: Defence Headquarters clarifies relationship with US troops deployed to Nigeria
The first group of newly trained Nigerian commandos was deployed this week to Plateau State, the official said. PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Chief of Army Staff, Waidi Shaibu, recently deployed special forces to Plateau, Taraba and other conflict-ravaged areas.
Looking ahead, US and Nigerian forces plan to expand their joint mission-planning capacity, drawing on intelligence from both governments. That includes information collected by US surveillance flights operating from a base in neighbouring Ghana, the Defence Department official said.
While Mr Uba would not specify how long American forces will remain in Nigeria, the US has indicated the deployment is intended to be temporary.
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