According to a US Africa Command official on Tuesday, the US will send 200 troops to Nigeria to help the military in the west African nation combat Islamist organizations.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the deployment will help with air attack targeting by augmenting a small team that is currently in the nation.
According to the US daily, the larger force, which is anticipated to arrive in the upcoming weeks, will offer “training and technical guidance,” including by assisting their Nigerian colleagues in coordinating operations that concurrently involve ground soldiers and airstrikes.
When queried by AFP, a US Africa Command spokeswoman said: “This article is accurate.”
Nigeria has been under diplomatic pressure by the United States over insecurity in the country, which US President Donald Trump has characterized as “persecution” and “genocide” against Christians.
Although there are instances where Christians are specifically targeted, Muslims are also killed, with Trump’s senior advisor on Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos saying last year Boko Haram and Islamic State “are killing more Muslims than Christians.”
Abuja denies claims of Christian persecution in Nigeria, which have long been used as a talking point by the right. Independent analysts agree, pointing to a larger official failure to stop armed gangs and Islamist organizations from committing acts of violence throughout large areas of the thinly regulated countryside.
The United States and Nigeria have reached an agreement to increase military cooperation in spite of diplomatic pressure.
With Nigerian support, the United States launched strikes against insurgents in northwest Sokoto state in December, according to both nations’ officials.
The US military has said it will supply intelligence for Nigerian air strikes going forward and work to expedite arms purchases.
While the 200-troop deployment ups the scale of that collaboration, “US troops aren’t going to be involved in direct combat or operations,” Samaila Uba, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters, told the Journal.
Nigeria requested the additional assistance, Uba said.
Africa’s most populous country is battling a long-running jihadist insurgency concentrated in its northeast, while non-ideological “bandit” gangs conduct kidnappings for ransom and loot villages in the northwest.
Across the center of the country, violence erupts among mostly Christian farmers and Muslim Fulani herders — though researchers say the main cause is access to dwindling land and resources.
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