ABUJA (Reuters) – The United States wants to
help Nigeria fight Islamists it sees as a growing
regional menace, but the country cannot rely on
military might alone, an official travelling with
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Clinton arrived in Africa’s most populous nation
on Thursday offering to help President Goodluck
Jonathan fight Boko Haram, a Taliban-like group
that wants to establish a strict Islamic state in
the north of the vast country.
Boko Haram has launched bomb and gun
attacks on churches this year that provoked
Christians, leading to deadly reprisals against
Muslims. Hundreds of people have died and
Washington is concerned about insecurity
spreading.
“Northern Nigeria also borders Chad, it borders
Cameroon, it borders Niger and we are
concerned this radicalism could undermine the
security of neighbouring states,” the senior U.S.
official said.
Jonathan’s critics say he relies too much on the
military to defeat Boko Haram, rather than
addressing northerners’ grievances, such as
poverty and unemployment, and Clinton will
lean on him to address the underlying causes of
the insurgency.
“A security strategy is not enough,” the official
said.
Military crackdowns have had mixed results –
reducing Boko Haram’s capabilities in some
areas but generating anger because of their
heavyhandedness.
Washington will offer Nigeria help with things
like forensics, tracking of suspects and “fusing”
disparate strands of police and military
intelligence, the U.S. official said.
“We know all too well from our own experiences
in both Iraq and Afghanistan what can happen if
soldiers and police are not operating under
appropriate authorities.”
“We will encourage them not to use excessive
force and to look at this as a … law enforcement
operation designed to catch perpetrators and
bring them to justice,” he added. source
www.euronews.com/newswires/1617520-nigeria-military-alone-cannot-beat-islamists-clinton/