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.
Source: TheNation
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