Pres. Jonathan & Obama |
The animosity between the Nigerian government and its American
counterpart has deepened with the Nigerian government cancelling a plan
to have the United States military train a battalion of the Nigerian
army to confront the extremist Boko Haram sect.
Nigerian officials did not provide reasons for the decision Monday, but the United States government said it regretted the move.
“At the request of the Nigerian government, the United States will
discontinue its training of a Nigerian Army battalion,” the U.S.
government, through its embassy in Abuja, said in a statement.
Relations between the two countries have been at a record low with
Nigeria accusing the United States of not providing sufficient support
for its fight against Boko Haram.
After months of informal allegations, the Nigerian Ambassador to the
U.S. Ade Adefuye, had in November openly accused the United States of
refusing to sell arms and equipment to Nigeria to help defeat Boko
Haram.
In its response, the American government said it has supported
Nigeria to the extent its law permits, and accused the Nigerian security
forces of human rights violations.
The U.S. said its laws disallow sales of arms to countries with such human rights record.
Even so, the American government said it has provided some military equipment to Nigeria.
The two countries are not also relating well economically after the
U.S. fully suspended buying Nigerian crude oil in July, a decision that
helped plunge Nigeria into one of its most severe financial crises as
oil price falls to a seven-year low.
It is not clear whether the latest decision to suspend the military
training relates to previous economic and military incidents between the
two countries.
Nigeria’s supervising Minister for Information, Nurudeen Mohammed,
could not be reached immediately, as well as presidential spokespersons,
Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe,.
But the U.S. government said in its statement that the first two
phases of the training were conducted between April and August 2014, and
had provided previously untrained civilian personnel with basic
soldiering skills.
“Based on mutual assessment of the Nigerian Army and U.S. trainers, a
third iteration of training was agreed upon with the intent of
developing the battalion into a unit with advanced infantry skills.
“We regret premature termination of this training, as it was to be
the first in a larger planned project that would have trained additional
units with the goal of helping the Nigerian Army build capacity to
counter Boko Haram,” it said.
The statement however said the U.S. government would continue other
aspects of its extensive bilateral security relationship, as well as all
other assistance programs, with Nigeria.
Source:
Premium Times
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