Nigeria’s envoy to Washington criticized U.S.
support in the battle against Boko Haram militants
as insufficient, including failure to share enough
intelligence and sell needed weaponry to fight the
Islamist group, Reuters reports.
Ambassador Ade Adefuye, in remarks posted on
the Nigerian Embassy’s website on Tuesday,
appealed for greater backing from Washington and
rejected claims of human rights abuses that have
limited some U.S. military assistance.
“Our people are not very happy with the content of
America’s support in the struggle against Boko
Harm,” Reuters quoted Adefuye as saying in an
address.
“There is no use giving us the type of support that
enables us to deliver light jabs to the terrorists
when what we need to give them is the killer
punch.”
Asked about the remarks, an Obama administration
official said Washington remained committed to
helping Nigeria address its extremist threat and
supported its efforts free Boko Haram’s kidnap
victims.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who faces
an election in February, has come under sharpening
public criticism for his government’s apparent
inability to check Boko Haram’s five-year
insurgency, which has ravaged the poor northeast
corner of Africa’s biggest economy.
His government’s announcement of a ceasefire last
month failed to stop almost daily attacks, which this
year have included the mid-April abduction by
Boko Haram of more than 200 schoolgirls from a
northeastern town.
“The people of Nigeria are increasingly frustrated
by not only the failure to rescue the kidnapped
schoolgirls but the failure to stop what has become
an increasingly effective insurgent offensive,” said
J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the
Atlantic Council think tank.
The United States ramped up its support for Nigeria
in the wake the abduction of the schoolgirls,
including high-tempo surveillance flights and efforts
to bolster intelligence sharing. It later acknowledged
a reduction in flights.
The Nigerian envoy disputed U.S. government
claims that it had addressed problems with
intelligence sharing. He also criticized a U.S.
refusal to sell weaponry “that would have brought
down the terrorists within a short time.”
He said Boko Haram fighters in stolen military
uniforms were to blame for abuses attributed to
Nigeria’s armed forces.
The U.S. official suggested any solution in Nigeria
could not be a solely military one, instead requiring
a comprehensive approach encompassing human
rights and the needs of victimized communities.
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