Maj. Gen. Marcus Hicks, the Commander of the United States’ Special
Operations Command Africa has described Boko Haram as the most lethal
terror organisation in the world despite claims by the federal
government that the extremist group had been significantly degraded and
technically defeated. The issue of Boko Haram’s power came up at
a press briefing held in the US during the week on anti-terror efforts
of the US government and made available to Thisday by the US embassy.
The
military commander spoke on US efforts to reinforce development,
diplomacy, and defence, including the Flintlock, an annual exercise in
Africa, and noted that the US had shifted its focus of training from
tactical proficiency of small units to command and control of joint
forces.
“Likewise, we have participants from the Multinational
Joint Headquarters in N’Djamena that address the threats of ISIS West
Africa, which is really in North-eastern Nigeria, and Boko Haram, its
predecessor….which is the most lethal terrorist organisation in the
world, in Lake Chad,” General Hicks remarked.
When asked why
Nigeria and other African nations are so important to the US, the
American Ambassador to Niger, Eric Whitaker, at the conference said: “I
think Africa is important to US’ national security for a variety of
reasons. We have a long, historic relationship with the African
continent and its 54 countries, keeping in mind that no less than 13 per
cent of our US population derives from the mother continent. Africa, a
continent of over 1 billion residents, is a continent with which we have
important relationships, whether it’s in diplomacy, development, or
defence for several decades now.
“We wish to expand trade with
these countries, including through the AGOA, the Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act, to help countries develop their economies through
trade. We also have humanitarian assistance to help countries who have
food insecurity situations, for example.” Hicks added that the training
focused on members of the G5 Sahel and the Multinational Joint Task
Force, around Lake Chad with eye on Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa.
Speaking
further, he said: “We hope and plan to exercise command and control
over tactical units at the joint multinational headquarters, which will
be located in Agadez, and this will be the first year that Flintlock’s
training audience will actually exercise command and control over
tactical units in a scenario. The scenarios will be based on real-world
threats of the violent extremist organisations currently threatening our
partner nations in the greater Sahel…. We also believe in the D3
approach, and as we bring a defence aspect to enable diplomacy and
development, we also bring in training our African partners in military
information support operations in order to counter the extremist
messaging and to promote defection from extremist organisations.”
Read News: Boko Haram is the most lethal terror group in the world - US General, Marcus Hicks
Saturday, 7 April 2018
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