Given that the United States is a significant military partner of Nigeria, the lack of condemnation from U.S. officials of what likely amounted to a violation of international humanitarian law was especially jarring. Yet Washington’s silence is consistent with a broader pattern: The U.S. has routinely turned a blind eye to abuses by the Nigerian military in the northeast of the country despite the fact that the U.S. is supporting Nigerian forces battling Boko Haram. So far, there is every indication that this bilateral military engagement will continue under President Donald Trump. In early August, a little more than a week before the U.N. raid, the U.S. approved the sale of some $593 million in military hardware and training to Nigeria. The transaction’s big-ticket item was a dozen A-29 Super Tucano light-attack aircraft. The Nigerian government had originally sought permission to procure the aircraft in 2015, but the military’s human rights record prompted the Obama administration to put the sale on hold. In particular, the Nigerian air force has been accused of bombing civilians on multiple occasions, including a January strike on a camp for displaced people in Rann, in the northeastern state of Borno, that killed at least 100 people, according to The Associated Press. The Rann bombing is an extreme example of an array of abuses, including arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings, committed by Nigerian security forces in the campaign against Boko Haram. These abuses persist even as the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has undertaken a concerted effort to lionize Nigerian soldiers as national heroes. Tactics used by Nigeria’s military in the fight against Boko Haram make it easier for the group to recruit. A frequent refrain in Washington policy circles, on the rare occasions when events in Africa manage to break through the frenetic domestic news cycle of the Trump era, is that it is imperative to depend on “strategic regional partners” to advance America’s security objectives. But while security partnerships, both multilateral and bilateral, are a valuable component of America’s national security toolkit, events in the Lake Chad basin suggest that Washington’s strategic partners are engaging in counterproductive behavior. A recent report published by the U.N. Development Program, titled “Journey Into Extremism in Africa,” draws from interviews with former combatants in Nigeria, Mali and Somalia to show that many people who join extremist groups have suffered abuses at the hands of the security sector. The takeaway is clear: Combating terrorist groups with tactics that make it easier for them to recruit is quite literally self-defeating. The behavior of the Nigerian military, therefore, demands that Washington recalibrate its security strategy in the region, emphasizing professionalization over weapons acquisition and improved capacity for combat.
Given that the United States is a significant military partner of Nigeria, the lack of condemnation from U.S. officials of what likely amounted to a violation of international humanitarian law was especially jarring. : The U.S. has routinely turned a blind eye to abuses by the Nigerian military in the northeast of the country despite the fact that the U.S. is supporting Nigerian forces battling Boko Haram. a little more than a week before the U.N. raid, the U.S. approved the sale of some $593 million in military hardware and training to Nigeria. The transaction’s big-ticket item was a dozen A-29 Super Tucano light-attack aircraft. the Nigerian air force has been accused of bombing civilians on multiple occasions, including a January strike on a camp for displaced people in Rann, Tactics used by Nigeria’s military in the fight against Boko Haram make it easier for the group to recruit. Combating terrorist groups with tactics that make it easier for them to recruit is quite literally self-defeating