US Offers France $35 Million To Fight Boko Haram, Exclude Nigeria - Foreign Affairs
President Barack Obama of the United
State of America (USA) has approved the disbursement of $35 million in
military and defence support services to France as part of Washington’s
contribution to the war against the terror group, Boko Haram.
The
White House said the aid is on account of the Paris active support for
Nigeria’s French speaking neighbours—Niger and Chad—in their fight
against Boko Haram insurgents as well as Mali, which is battling Islamic
extremism.
The three French-speaking have been in the forefront of the war against Islamic terrorism.
No reference was made to Nigeria, which is the worst hit by Boko Haram’s terrorist assaults.
The
outgoing Jonathan administration has not enjoyed the best of relations
with President Obama over the Nigerian leader’s initial questionable
response of the US to the Boko Haram menace.
Agency report
yesterday said a US government official simply reaffirmed that the $35
million funding was in support of French operations, which are not
taking place in Nigeria.
Some diplomats expect that once
President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, assumes office on May 29, the White
House will announce some new initiatives to support the overall fight
against terror groups in Nigeria.
Recently at Time magazine’s 100
influential people gala in New York City, top US government officials,
including Samantha Powers, promised that the US would do more to support
the search for the Chibok girls and the fight against Boko Haram in
Nigeria.
Titled “Delegation of Authority Under Section 506(a)(1)
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961,” the White House statement noted
that President Obama had authorised Secretary of State John Kerry to
facilitate the US assistance to Mali, Niger and Chad, significantly
omitting Nigeria, where terror groups had captured significant
territories and killed thousands of people in suicide attacks and
military operations.
In the White House statement, President
Obama delegated to the Secretary of State “the authority under section
506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct the drawdown
of up to $35 million in defense services of the Department of Defense to
provide assistance to France in its efforts to secure Mali, Niger, and
Chad from terrorists and violent extremists and to make the
determinations required under such section to direct such a drawdown.”
US-Nigeria
relationship on Boko Haram has been rocky, leading the Nigerian
Ambassador to the US openly stating the American government had not
given Nigeria the needed support especially in the area of weapons.
The US government refused to sell US-made Cobra fighter-helicopters to Nigeria.
It
was gathered that even when Nigeria decided to purchase the helicopters
from Israel, Washington declined to give its consent for the deal to
sail through.
Under the terms of US-Israeli ties, the Israeli government
cannot transfer the military helicopters to a third country unless the US government okayed the transaction.
A
US military training of a unit of the Nigerian military was also
abruptly ended late last year as the Americans said Nigeria asked for
the training to stop.
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/us-offers-france-35-million-to-fight-boko-haram/
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