The United States is increasing deliveries of military equipment and sharing more intelligence with Nigeria as part of a wider push to help Abuja tackle Islamic State-linked militants, a senior U.S. Africa Command official said on Monday.
Lieutenant-General John Brennan, AFRICOM’s deputy commander, told AFP the U.S. had “gotten a lot more aggressive and (are) working with partners to target, kinetically, the threats, mainly ISIS.”
He said Washington is “enabling partners and then providing them with equipment and capabilities with less restrictions so that they can be more successful.”
The flurry of support follows U.S. airstrikes on IS-linked targets in northwest Nigeria last month, operations that Washington has said were intended to degrade militant capacity and that were carried out with Nigerian cooperation.
They have delivered supplies to Abuja as part of that deeper security partnership.
At the inauguration of a U.S.–Nigeria Joint Working Group in Abuja, Under Secretary of State Allison Hooker urged Nigerian authorities “to protect Christians,” comments that underscored the diplomatic friction around how to frame violence in the country.
Nigerian Information Minister Mohammed Idris cautioned the campaign’s results are “still a work in progress.”
Analysts warned that while added intelligence and materiel can aid Nigerian air strikes in the northwest and the long-running fight against Boko Haram and ISWAP in the northeast, military tools alone may not halt groups that thrive amid local poverty and weak governance.
Observers said careful oversight will be needed to ensure operations reduce violence without inflaming sectarian tensions.
Investigations into the impact of recent strikes and the scale of U.S. support are continuing.
