ABIDJAN, La Cote D’Ivoire — First the United States of America labelled Boko Haram a terrorist group. Then they sought to push Nigeria to accept a mandate to build a US Military Base in Nigeria, led by President Barack H. Obama, a man who is most beloved in East Africa because his father, whom he never really knew, hailed from Kenya. Mr. Obama’s mother was a European American.
The US claimed that this American force would gather the “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” to stop any further Boko Haram advance. The proposition coincided with Nigeria’s new role in Africa – she became the largest economy in Africa overtaking South Africa for the first time.
Then the Nigerian government intercepted a Military Aircraft over Nigerian Airspace, identified as a French plane, filled with food, ammunition and weapons made in the USA, destined as supplies to retool Boko Haram in the North East.
The Federal Government of Nigeria re-assessed the US proposal and declined it for security reasons. The government of Nigeria made it clear that the US Military Base in the North of Nigeria would undermine the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The United States and its allies were not pleased.
Months later, it was reported that hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa and other African countries were playing a decisive role in Nigeria’s military campaign against Boko Haram – operating attack helicopters and armored personnel carriers and fighting to retake towns and villages captured by the Islamist terrorist group, which had then pledged allegiance to ISIS.
The US and many other western nations – their allies – quickly launched a political assassination of the military efforts in Nigeria. They accused the Federal Government of Nigeria of using Mercenaries from across the continent in fighting Boko Haram.
While these allegations emerged and spread, Boko Haram became even more emboldened.
It quickly became apparent that the when, the how, and the tools that Boko Haram was being defeated with, seemed to matter more to the west than the innocent lives in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that were being destroyed on a daily basis, as far as the bordering countries suffering from the carnage of Boko Haram as well.
At the same time, most of the mercenary reports about the war on Boko Haram only focused on the Nigerian government rather than the menace that was Boko Haram itself, signifying that the US and the west may have been more interested in the general elections in Nigeria than they were interested in seeing Africa’s biggest economy wipe out a terrorist organization that had fast become a global one.
This is why is it absolutely surreptitious that President Obama on Wednesday said he had ordered 300 troops to Cameroon to work with West African soldiers seeking to counter the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram.
In a letter to Congress, Mr. Obama said that the troops would provide “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” in the region. The White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, said that the troops would be armed for their protection but that they would not engage in combat.
However, many Army insiders in Nigeria and West Africa in general argue that US Military personnel are only in Cameroon to spy on the movements of Nigerian Military against Boko Haram. They claim that the US is nervous about Nigeria’s new role in West Africa, and in Africa in general, first as the biggest economy and second, as the largest military on the continent.
Why would the USA be worried? They are concerned that Nigeria will become a powerful center of nucleation for African economic liberation form western imperialism.
“That is in simple terms, all that this Boko Haram conflict in the North East of Nigeria is all about,” said General (rtd) Gogo Ndiakuah of Niger.
Mr. Obama said that an advance force of about 90 military personnel had begun deploying to Cameroon, which borders Nigeria, on Monday. Administration officials said that unarmed Predator drones would be sent with the troops, who will aid a multinational task force composed of soldiers from Cameroon, Chad, Benin, Niger and Nigeria.
The way army officials in these countries see it, the US is here to spy! The US is not in West Africa to defeat Boko Haram. They are here to make it worse since ultimately their agenda, led by the nincompoop in Mr. Obama, is to destabilize Nigeria so much so that she can never serve as the center of economic nucleation that West Africans and Africans in general need in order to attain economic freedom.
Amnesty International has estimated that violence by Boko Haram has left at least 17,000 people dead since 2009, when the insurgency began. Unicef said last month that fear of attacks by the group had uprooted half a million children in the preceding five months, bringing the total number of children displaced by Boko Haram in Nigeria and neighboring countries to 1.4 million.
Boko Haram, which is seeking to establish a caliphate, has allied itself with the Islamic State, but it is unclear whether the groups have coordinated their attacks.
The Associated Press reported that three bombs exploded on Tuesday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing at least seven people. The authorities blamed Boko Haram for the attacks.
Alas, for what?
Trinkets!
Enough of Mr. Obama in Africa with US troops.
1.4 million children displaced just so some African leaders can have a European or American house, a couple of fast cars, and some closets of leather shoes. What a pitiful exchange!
Yes, Josh Earnest, the US police are also armed for protection but do not engage in combat. *wink wink*
Why does the US need predator drones if not to be predators in Africa? Something is fishy about this arrangement to station US troops in Cameroon. The author is right to suggest that the Cameroonian government should reconsider, for their own safety.