Nigerian Army soldiers during an operation against Boko Haram militants last November. Credit Reuters
New York Times: U.S. Plans to Put Advisers on Front Lines of Nigeria’s War on Boko Haram
DAKAR, Senegal — The Pentagon is poised to send dozens of Special Operations advisers to the front lines of Nigeria’s fight against the West African militant group Boko Haram, according to military officials, the latest deployment in conflicts with the Islamic State and its allies.
Their deployment would push American troops hundreds of miles closer to the battle that Nigerian forces are waging against an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians in the country’s northeast as well as in neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. By some measures, Boko Haram is the world’s deadliest terrorist group.
The deployment is a main recommendation of a recent confidential assessment by the top United States Special Operations commander for Africa, Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc. If it is approved, as expected, by the Defense and State Departments, the Americans would serve only in noncombat advisory roles, military officials said.
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Update #1: US looking to send special forces advisers to help in Boko Haram fight (Stars and Stripes)
Update #2: Nigeria News: US Military To Boko Haram Front Line? Advisers Could Move Into Restive Northeast (IBTimes)
WNU Editor: This complements the U.S. drone war in the region .... HUNTING BOKO HARAM: The U.S. Extends Its Drone War Deeper Into Africa With Secretive Base (The Intercept).
This is always how it starts -- "Americans would serve only in noncombat advisory roles." The US would love to get something going in central Africa, as it did in north Africa, but it won't be easy.
ReplyDeleteDec, 2014
Here in Stuttgart, officials at the headquarters of United States Africa Command offered their own bleak assessment of a corruption-plagued, poorly equipped Nigerian military that is “in tatters” as it confronts an enemy that now controls about 20 percent of the country.