Uncle Sam and African Security
The highly respected Sahara Reporters and Premium Times – the online reincarnation of the defunct Next Newspapers made its teeming readers sad by engaging in yellow journalism. They reported that the United States committed $5 billion to the Multinational Joint Task Force in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency. The bubble was punctured when the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the actual figure was $5million. A friend of mine was so disappointed and expressed his anger on facebook saying that even a local fund manager in Lagos could do much better than that. The lacklustre attitude of America during the Jonathan administration made the ‘Giant of Africa’ turned to Russia and China for support to contend with the insurgents that led many soldiers of the once dreaded Nigerian army to desert with their tails in between their legs. Jonathan took his frustration to the Wall Street Journal in an exclusive interview and wondered why the United States which was ferociously battling the Islamic State could be so lukewarm to the Boko Haram menace when the latter had pledged loyalty to the former. America said it wouldn’t assist Nigeria with land forces and would not also share intelligence with the military. The then Nigerian Ambassador to the United States Professor Ade Adefuye said that Uncle Sam was standing in the way of the Nigerian military procuring lethal equipment that would have helped the country end the insurgency long ago. It got so disheartening that Iran, a third world nation voluntarily offered to assist. We recall during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as US Secretary of State, she didn’t designate Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organisation because she didn’t want to give a domestic group glob al attention. She has been proven wrong as the seemingly innocuous group that began in 2002 but turned violent after the extrajudicial murder of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, now has links with the Islamic State. Boko Haram has now spread its tentacles to other African states such as Benin Republic, Cameroun, Niger and Chad, all under the watch of Uncle Sam.
The Al-Shabaab is another terror organisation operating in Somalia but has now spread its base to Kenya. The dastardly attack on the Garrissa University and the Westgate Shopping Mall in Kenya where thousands were left dead is still fresh in our memories. What was the response of the United States to these attacks? Not much as her interests do not seem to be threatened by the activities of these heartless beasts masquerading as terrorists. The same lackadaisical attitude in Nigeria as shown by the commitment of such a miniscule amount to its fight also points to the fact that her interests don’t seem much threatened by the militant sect. How many American interests are situated in the Northeast where the sect largely operates from? Let us contrast this to the Niger Delta Insurgency which saw the White House compel the then President Olusegun Obasanjo to hurriedly negotiate with Asari- Dokubo as the oil price globally was badly affected by the activities of the ‘liberty fighters’ from the South-South.
Former Military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, vented his frustration on Uncle Sam when he revealed their reluctance to supply the Nigerian army with arms and ammunition needed to quickly end the war. The same America was busy peddling its military wares to Zaire. In desperation, he had to turn to the then Soviet Union for aid. Tony Ademiluyi, Abuja