US determined to remain strong security partner for Nigeria - Blinken
ABUJA/WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said the United States is determined to remain a strong security partner for Nigeria, whose military is backed by the U.S., Britain and other allies in a long war against Islamist insurgents.
Blinken also discussed challenges to democracy and security in the region during his meeting on Tuesday with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in a visit that comes after last year's coup in neighbouring Niger, one of a series of coups or attempted power grabs over the past few years in West and Central Africa.
"The United States is determined to be and remain a strong security partner for Nigeria,"
Blinken told reporters.
Blinken added that he discussed how it is vitally important there be a focus on ensuring civilians are protected and humanitarian considerations.
Observers have noted a pattern of deadly aerial assaults by the Nigerian military that have killed civilians, which was the subject of a Reuters special report last year.
The U.S. faced a setback in its fight against militants in the Sahel when military officers toppled Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum, a key ally, in July last year.
The coup in Niger was one of a series of military takeovers or attempted power grabs that occurred in West and Central Africa
over the past three years.
The instability has raised concern, particularly as juntas have cut ties with traditional Western allies such as the European Union and France, which withdrew thousands of troops from the Sahel last year.
Blinken, speaking in Abuja as part of a four-nation tour of Africa taking him to Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Angola from January 21-26.
Meanwhile in Abidjan on Tuesday, Blinken pledged $45 million in additional financing to help fight conflict and bring stability to coastal West Africa, where insecurity linked to jihadist insurgencies has increased in recent years
Ivory Coast is one of several coastal West African countries impacted in recent years by Islamist insurgencies that took root in Mali in 2012 and spread across the Sahel region despite costly, internationally backed military efforts to contain it. –