The United States will send an additional 200 troops to supplement the “small team” initially deployed to Nigeria, Wall Street Journal is reporting.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the US had sent a small team to assist Nigerian troops in the fight against terrorism.
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The deployment, according to Reuters, was announced by Dagvin Anderson, head of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), who said the move follows a mutual agreement between the United States and the Nigerian government to strengthen efforts against terror threats in the region.
But in a statement last week, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters said the deployment was part of the bilateral cooperation between the US and Nigeria.
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It explained that the cooperation is centred on “capacity building, professional military education, intelligence sharing, logistics support and strategic dialogue aimed at addressing shared security concerns, including terrorism and transnational threats.”
Additional 200 troops
Now the US plans to deploy an additional 200 soldiers. The Wall Street Journal attributed this statement to a spokesperson for AFRICOM.
“The terrorist activity in West Africa—and Nigeria specifically—is something we’re incredibly concerned with,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying. “We want to partner with capable and willing partners that are able to address these shared security concerns.”
However, the spokesperson for Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, Samaila Uba, told the US-based newspaper that the US troops will not be involved in direct combat operations, an assertion that the newspaper said was corroborated by US officials.
Many Nigerians are wary about the presence or deployment of US forces to their country, fearing that their involvement in internal affairs of other nations brought more chaos.
But the Defence Headquarters said that the country’s partnership with the US is in “full respect of Nigeria’s sovereignty.”
It added that Nigeria’s defence partnerships are transparent, policy-driven and guided strictly by national interest, measurable outcomes and constitutional provisions.
The partnership and recent engagement came following diplomatic tensions that trailed the redesignation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern by US President Donald Trump who falsely claimed that Christian genocide was ongoing in Nigeria and that the government was abetting it.
After that redesignation, Washington threatened military action in Nigeria if the government didn’t take action against terrorists he said were mainly killing Christians.
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Amid the tension, Abuja disputed Mr Trump’s claims, saying Nigerians of all faith were being targeted, a position that the US president agreed with after he ordered military airstrikes on “Islamic State camps” in the North-west where the presence of the group is still being debated.
Since the December airstrikes, delegates from both countries have been meeting in an effort to strengthen bilateral cooperation against growing insecurity in the West African country.
