Recently, United States (US) President, Barack Obama, announced the deployment of 300 troops and surveillance drones to Cameroon as part of coordinated efforts to combat the seemingly intractable hostility of Boko Haram fundamentalism. An advance team of 90 troops has since arrived Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital.
By Ifeoha Azikiwe
Recently,
United States (US) President, Barack Obama, announced the deployment of 300
troops and surveillance drones to Cameroon as part of coordinated efforts to
combat the seemingly intractable hostility of Boko Haram fundamentalism. An
advance team of 90 troops has since arrived Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital.
Image Attribute: MQ 9 Guardian / Source: Wikimedia Commons
Washington
claims that the troops were being deployed at the invitation of the government
of Cameroonian President, Paul Biya. His Nigerian counterpart, President
Muhammadu Buhari, also sees Obama’s announcement as
a “welcome development,” despite disagreements between Washington and Abuja over
human rights violations in the management of the Boko Haram insurgency, during
the administration of his predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan,
The
mission’s rules of engagement indicate that the forces would be armed, but only
for the purpose of providing their own security, and not for offensive military
operations. President Obama in his letter to the Congress specified that
American troops would “conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance operations in the region.”
US
engagement in Cameroon was re-echoed from Stuttgart, Germany, the powerhouse of
US intervention force in Africa under the aegis of the United States AFRICOM
project. Authorities at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart-Moehringen, German military
hub, are optimistic that the combined Cameroonian expedition would better
enhance the capability and capacity of the Cameroon defense forces to promote
stability and security within the country and the surrounding region.
The drone
centre in Cameroon adds to the growing number of US military deployments to
Africa’s troubled spots. Already, there are twelve US surveillance base
establishments in the continent, eight of which are in the Horn of Africa,
including those in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and the Seychelles.
Uganda also hosts US drones as part of efforts to counter the menace of the
Lord’s Resistance Army. In addition, two US military facilities are stationed
in the West African countries of Burkina Faso and Niger.
Image Attribute: Aerial
image of Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti, March 2015.Photo: Google Earth
In May
2014, the United States deployed 80 military personnel along with surveillance
aircraft to Chad to track down Nigeria’s Chibok schoolgirls caged in captivity
of Boko Haram militants. Genuine as the intentions were, that exercise did not
achieve the desired objective, as the girls remain incommunicado till date.
Image Attribute: Aerial image of Niamey Int'l Airport, Niger, October 2015.Photo: Google Earth
Twelve
years of Boko Haram uprising has earned Nigeria the notoriety of a troubled
nation. Nigeria was ranked fourth among the 10 deadliest countries of the
world in 2014, as enumerated by PS21 “Project
For The Study Of The 21st Century,” - a new global think tank for a
new global era.
This
latest US initiative comes as African leaders, for months, have struggled
unsuccessfully, to raise a Multinational Joint Task Force to tackle the
insurgency that has claimed well over 50,000 lives in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger
and Chad since the rebellion escalated in Northeastern Nigeria in 2009. The
deployment of the AU-backed task force is greatly hampered by logistic and
financial difficulties disturbing the affected states.
Image Attribute: Aerial image of N'Djamena Int'l Airport, Chad, October 2015.Photo: Google Earth
There is
no doubt that US military intrusion is guided by America’s desire to defend and
protect her strategic interests anywhere in the world, including but not
limited to the growing Sino-African relationship, and an eye on African crude.
It is also about US counter-terrorism pursuits, democracy and the rule of law.
And the administration of President George W. Bush was explicit as to the
reasons behind AFRICOM,
which was designed initially for selected “friendly” African nations.
Many
African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana, through the
instrumentality of the African Union reacted nagatively when the programme took
off in 2008. Their gruise was based
purely on respect for the principles of the AU Charter adopted in Lome, Togo in
2000, which rejects outright, the establishment of foreign military bases on
the African continent. But this is no longer tenable, and African leaders seem
comfortable, unfortunately though.
With as
much as 13 locations in place, the US has obviously ran contrary to the AU Constitutive
Act by dealing directly with individual countries on specific conflict
situations, and establishing defence bases - an exercise concealed with wider
implications for the continent than Washington could imagine.
A critical
assessment of the current US unilateral intervention, be it in Cameroon or
elsewhere in Africa, depicts a delicate situation for African as well as for US
interests. On the long run, US intervention, using the drones or operating
directly under AFRICOM mechanism is becoming counterproductive as it continues
to attract those negative elements hostile to American interests into Africa.
And Africa is fast becoming a battlefield between the US and its adversaries.
Needless to recall here, the Somalia syndrome that casts doubts on Washington’s
real intentions, and suitability of her carrot gifts in the management of
conflicts on the continent.
There is a
paradigm shift from internal and cross-border political conflicts that hitherto
engulfed African countries to religiously motivated extremism, insurgency and
terrorism, which has links with die-hard counterparts operating in Afghanistan,
Syria and Middle East. And that is what
is dangerously playing out in Africa’s four cardinal points.
Boko
Haram, for instance, has long been internationalized, and has graduated from a
local anti-government movement to one that seeks to defend core Islamist
values, picking on Africa as a line of least resistance, and carrying out
nefarious activities to which neither Christians nor Muslims are spared. It
claims strong attachment to Al-Qaeda, AQIM, the Taliban, AI-Shabaab and most
recently ISIS, all of whom target American interests.
Washington
must realise that any arrangement made in defence of Africa must adhere
strictly to UN security architecture, as well as to the principles and protocol
laid down by AU and Sub-regional groupings. And for that matter, the US could
do better by channelling her abundant recourses towards the development by
means of funding, logistics and training of the AU-sponsored African Standby
Force, in order, to make it active, operational and dependable.
About The Author:
Ifeoha Azikiwe (O-8644-2015) is a veteran Nigerian journalist with
over 30 years of professional experience was born on January 3, 1956. Educated
in Nigeria, Ghana and France, he has held senior editorial positions in local
and international media organisations and was, from 2003-2007, the Director of
Information, ECOWAS Mission in Cote d”Ivoire, which spearheaded diplomatic
efforts towards the peaceful resolution of the Ivorian crisis. Fluent in
English and French, Azikiwe is adequately exposed to the dynamics of
international diplomacy as a result of his coverage of major events across
Africa, Europe and America. He is the author of a biography and two books which are as follows:
1. Memoirs of a Patriot, (2002),
2. Africa: Conflict Resolution And International Diplomacy (2009). ISBN : 978-1449063061
3. Nigeria: Echoes of a century, 1914-2014. (2013) , ISBN:
9781481729260
4. Asagba Prof. Joseph Chike Edozien, His Thoughts, Words, Vision (2015), ISBN 978-1-5049-2561-7
4. Asagba Prof. Joseph Chike Edozien, His Thoughts, Words, Vision (2015), ISBN 978-1-5049-2561-7
