The United States will send a team to Nigeria in the next few
weeks to discuss with the Federal Government ways to renew cooperation in the
fight against Boko Haram, a senior US diplomat told Reuters on Thursday.
Washington has quickly reached out to President Muhammadu
Buhari since his election victory in March and sent US Secretary of State John
Kerry to his inauguration to underscore US interest in working with his
government.
Tensions emerged between the former government of President
Goodluck Jonathan and the Barack Obama administration last year over alleged
corruption and human rights abuses by the Nigerian military in its campaign to
crush Boko Haram.
In his inauguration speech, Buhari had vowed to defeat Boko
Haram and called the group, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Syria
and Iraq in March, “mindless” and “godless.”
She said Buhari had committed both publicly and privately to
“do everything possible to address the situation in terms of resources and
staff” to tackle Boko Haram, which launched its insurgency in 2009.
US officials have said the United States could send more
advisers to Nigeria to train its military and help boost the economy, the
largest in Africa, through more investment in its oil and gas sector.
Thomas-Greenfield said the US was encouraged that Buhari’s
first trips were to Niger and Chad, which are part of a multi-national force
being set up to fight Boko Haram’s insurgency in the Lake Chad region.
Nigeria’s Major-General Tukur Buratai has been appointed to
head the new force, which will be funded partly by the international community.
“He is someone we have worked with and someone we feel will
be a positive force on the multinational task force,” she said, adding that
Buhari was still studying options to fund a stepped-up effort to tackle Boko
Haram.
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