Nigeria on Friday said that a decision to
cancel US training of its soldiers to fight Boko
Haram was a logistical, not a political decision.
The US Embassy in Abuja announced on
Monday that the Nigerian government had
halted a training programme of an army
battalion, which would have developed into a
unit to take on the militants.
The cancellation came after Nigeria's
ambassador to Washington last month criticised
the United States for the "scope, nature and
content" of its support for the counter-
insurgency.
In particular, he said Washington had failed to
provide the weapons required to deliver a "killer
punch" to Boko Haram.
But Nigeria's national security spokesman, Mike
Omeri, played down talk of strained diplomatic
ties, saying it did not affect the countries'
existing military cooperation.
"This is just a training component for one
battalion of the Nigerian Army," he told AFP.
"We have had the first and second phase of
that training, so it is not as if the whole
bilateral military agreement has been
suspended. The suspension is logistical and not
political."
Omeri was quoted as saying in the Nigerian
media on Friday that the cancelled third phase
required military equipment to be withdrawn
from current operations to be used for training.
The US Embassy had said it regretted the end
of the training programme, which had been
offered in the wake of Boko Haram's abduction
of 276 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria in mid-
April.
A number of foreign powers sent surveillance
and intelligence specialists to Nigeria to assist
the military with the search for the 219
teenagers who are still being held.
The military has been unable to end the five-
year Islamist insurgency, which has left more
than 13,000 dead and displaced more than one
million people.
The main opposition has alleged that the
government has been playing politics with the
insurgency, as the worst-hit areas are unlikely
to vote for it in next year's elections.