The United States’ military force has expressed its determination to help fight Nigeria’s invasion by foreign extremists, a situation that has been blamed for the increase in killings in recent time.
The promise is coming barely a few days after President Muhammadu Buhari declared that killings by herdsmen in some parts of the country resulted from the influx of some gunmen trained and armed by former President of Libya, the late Muammar Gaddafi.
The Commanding General of the U.S. Army, Africa, Brig.-Gen. Eugene LeBoeuf, made the promise on Monday during the African Land Forces Summit held in Abuja.
LeBoeuf corroborated Buhari’s claim that the influx of foreign extremists had worsened the security situation, not only in Nigeria, but in the West African sub-region in general.
According to him, there were plans already being put in place to ensure security at the Nigerian borders as well as those of other West African countries.
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His words: “To respect our security cooperation activities, we again will support border security activities through invitation to help support our African allies.
“We are all concerned over attacks from foreign extremists’ orgainisation and so the U.S. is interested in supporting our partner nations to secure their borders and enabling security whether in their country or outside.”
Also speaking at the summit, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Gabriel Olonisakin, stressed that violent extremism terrorism, human trafficking, proliferation of small arms and light weapons as well as piracy had continued to pose security challenges to Nigeria as well as other countries.
He said there was the need for army chiefs of various countries to develop and adopt a unified approach to confronting the challenges posed by insecurity.
“There is a need for sincere and active collaboration between all stakeholders to strangulate the sources of funding, weapons and groups that pose or have the potential to pose a security challenge at national, regional or continental levels.
“This collaboration can only be possible if we forge lasting friendships that will accommodate common interests and aspirations to safeguard Africa,” he said.
