The United States Department of Defence has said there is no discussion with President Goodluck Jonathan, to send US troops to assist the Nigerian military in fighting Boko Haram.
This was disclosed by the Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby.
However, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Military, Major General Chris Olukolade, has stated that Nigeria never requested for US ground troops to come and help in the fight against insurgents. “What we need was their technical cooperation, including intelligence and logistics,”
When asked under what circumstance the US would consider sending troops to Nigeria as requested by Jonathan, Kirby stated that the discussion between the US and the Nigerian government was about establishing a multinational task force.
“There is a discussion but it is of a multinational task force that the international community is working with certain African nations to establish. That is right now still in the discussion phase.
“I don’t have a timeline for that. But we believe that we support the discussion and dialogue toward establishing a multinational task force that can operate there to help improve partner capacity, to improve counter-terrorism capabilities. But these are discussions (that) are really just now starting,” the Pentagon’s spokesman said.
“I can tell you that there are no plans as I speak here to send unilaterally, to send or to add US troops into Nigeria. There are no US troops operating in Nigeria.”
Kirby, however, noted that the US was not ruling out sending ground forces as part of the multinational task force.
He said, “Nothing is being ruled out or ruled in. These discussions are really just starting. So, I think it’d be premature to say I know exactly what the US component would be or to characterise it. We’re just not there, yet.”
But, in an interview he granted the Wall Street Journal in Abuja on Friday, Jonathan criticised President Barack Obama’s government for being unwilling to support the Federal Government in fighting the Boko Haram insurgents.
“Are they not fighting ISIS? Why can’t they come to Nigeria? Look, they are our friends. If Nigeria has a problem, then I expect the US to come and assist us,” Jonathan argued.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council has condemned “in the strongest terms” the continued escalation of attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists, including deadly attacks during the past week which took the lives of many civilians in Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
