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| A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft |
The US administration is seeking to approve a sale of as many as 12
A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft for Nigeria to aid its battle
against the extremist group Boko Haram, US officials said.
The officials said while speaking on condition of anonymity to
discuss the administration’s plans in a vote of confidence in President
Muhammadu Buhari’s drive to reform the country’s corruption-tainted
military.
Washington also is dedicating more intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance assets to the campaign against the Islamist militants in
the region and plans to provide additional training to Nigerian infantry
forces.
The possible sale which the officials said was favored within the US
administration but is subject to review by Congress underscores the
deepening US involvement in helping governments in North and West Africa
fight extremist groups.
US Navy Vice Admiral, Michael Franken, a Deputy Commander of the
Pentagon’s Africa Command, told a Washington forum last week that there
now are 6,200 US troops most of them Special Operations Forces,
operating from 26 locations on the continent.
The widening US military cooperation is a political victory for
Buhari, who took office last year pledging to crack down on the rampant
corruption that has undermined the armed forces in Africa’s most
populous country.
“The Buhari administration I think has really reenergised the
bilateral relationship in a fundamental way,” another US official said.
The previous Nigerian government of Goodluck Jonathan had scorned the
US for blocking arms sales partly because of human rights concerns. It
also criticized Washington for failing to speed the sharing of
intelligence.
The souring relations hit a low at the end of 2014 when US military training of Nigerian forces was abruptly halted.
That is changing under Buhari, whose crackdown on corruption has led
to a raft of charges against top national security officials in the
previous government.
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