Despite the growing clamour in the United States Congress for the deployment of American Special Forces to assist in the search for more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted more than a month ago, the White House has ruled it out, saying the focus is on assisting the Nigerian government in finding and rescuing the girls.
This is just as presidency sources disclosed yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan would be paying his first visit to Chibok in Borno State today, more than a month after the students were kidnapped.
Former US presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, Wednesday had said the Pentagon should consider acting unilaterally and send special forces to rescue the girls.
“We’re the best-trained, most professional military in the world, and if we know where these young girls are, we should go rescue them,” he said, questioning Nigeria‘s military capability.
US military officials said privately, however, that a rescue mission would be fraught with massive risks and dangers and that it currently was not deemed an option.
McCain got support from Congressional Democrats such as Senator Dianne Feinstein, a ranking senator, who said special forces should be sent but only if the Nigerian government makes the request.
However, the White House said yesterday that it was not actively considering sending Special Forces to Nigeria, adding: “We are actively advising including through military personnel – the Nigerian government as it seeks to find, to locate and to rescue these girls. Finding them is the first step.”
According to AFP, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at a briefing: “Our military personnel at the embassy and any additional military personnel we may deploy will be in Nigeria in an advisory capacity.”
“At this point, we’re not actively considering the deployment of US forces to participate in a combined rescue mission,” Carney said in response to a question at his daily news conference.
Carney said: “I think it’s important to be mindful of where we are in this process and not get ahead of ourselves. We’re engaged at many levels now as part of this group that’s been stood up at the embassy with personnel from the embassy as well as from AFRICOM and elsewhere, including the military, State (Department) and FBI to assist the government in the effort underway to find the kidnapped girls.”
That effort includes manned fixed-wing reconnaissance flights, he said, adding that it also includes unmanned, unarmed reconnaissance flights (US drones) in the effort to find them.
“I would note that even the narrowly-drawn area where there is the greatest suspicion that the girls might be is an area that is something along the size of the state of West Virginia. So this is a pretty vast expanse of territory,” he said.
Carney pointed out that the US does not have intelligence to share about the location of the girls or whether they are all together.
“But time is of the essence, as we’ve been saying. That’s why we were so eager to assist the Nigerian government in this effort that the Nigerian government, of course, is leading.
“But it’s important to step back and understand the challenges that this search effort is facing.
“We would have to know where the girls are as a simple proposition before we could attempt rescue attempts. At this point, we’re not considering the deployment of US military personnel. The military personnel who are involved in this effort are involved in an advisory capacity,” he explained.
FG Did Not Want to Designate Sect Terror Group
Also, the US State Department disclosed yesterday that the Nigerian government rejected requests by the US to designate Boko Haram a terror group
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Hon. Robert P. Jackson, disclosed while testifying at the hearing of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs in Washington, D.C.
He said the Nigerian government rejected the move on the grounds that it would give prominence to Boko Haram and embolden it.
Some US senators had blamed former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for failing to act decisively on the designation of the group.
Also at the hearing, the Principal Director for African Affairs, Department of Defence, Ms. Alice Friend, said the Nigerian military’s brutal tactics in fighting Boko Haram also contributed to escalating the insurgency.
She said the gross human rights violations were well documented, adding that these had denied Nigeria of vital military assistance from the US.
She also stated that Boko Haram’s tactics had been brutal and that the Nigerian military had been afraid to engage the terrorist group.
Friend said the Nigerian Armed Forces were significantly weakened by previous military administrations for fear of coups but stated that that was no longer the case, as there exists a robust relationship between the political leadership and the top echelon of the military.
She also slammed Nigeria’s “slow” response to the kidnapping of the girls by Islamic militants and renewed criticism of its military over its human rights record.
“We cannot ignore that Nigeria can be an extremely challenging partner to work with,” Alice Friend said.
“In the face of this sophisticated threat, Nigeria’s security forces have been slow to adapt with new strategies and new tactics.”
