FIRST ON FOX: In Nigeria, Digital has been told terrorists are ‘on the run’ following last month’s U.S. strikes aimed at stopping the insurgency in Africa’s most populous country, as a senior U.S. Africa Command official visited Nigeria this week.
According to the newly released Open Doors World Watch List, a persecution watchdog, three out of every four Christians killed for their faith worldwide have been murdered in Nigeria. This reportedly averages to one Christian killed every two and a half hours.
Speaking Thursday in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump confirmed, “In Nigeria we’re annihilating terrorists who are killing Christians. We’ve hit them very hard. They’ve killed thousands and thousands of Christians.”
This past week, Lt. Gen. John Brennan, U.S. Army, the second-highest-ranking officer at U.S. Africa Command and a former U.S. Special Forces leader who served in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, was as a key member of a U.S. delegation to Nigeria. Speaking exclusively to Digital from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Brennan detailed to combat Islamic State and other jihadi terror groups.
Brennan gave Digital insight into the U.S. military’s role now in Nigeria: “We are continuing to provide them (the Nigerians), airborne ISR, (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), things that will make them more accurate. And they had some success in Sokoto post-strike because of the activity that the strike generated across the network.”
The general continued, “A lot of terrorists decided to flee the area, and it allowed the Nigerians the opportunity to arrest them.” But he added, “We’re all about enabling Nigerians to solve Nigerian problems. We want to ensure that they remain a security anchor for all of West Africa and they do too. And so it’s in our mutual interest that we work together.”
“They have a terrorist problem,” Brennan said. “So we’re trying to help create effects that will stop them and their borders from getting incurred by terrorist organizations,” he concluded.
“I definitely have a good reason to believe that the target was hit,” Illia Djadi, persecution analyst for sub-Saharan Africa at Open Doors, told Digital. He added, “and (when) I say target, I mean these armed men, people or groups, their camps have been hit, and eventually afflicting damage to them. They are on the run now. Fleeing in different directions. Some sources say some have fled, maybe to neighboring Niger and others south and in different locations across Nigeria.”
Djadi continued, “All these years, they have been acting and attacking with relative total impunity. But this has changed now. They are scared now. They are hit, and they realize they can be hit again. So this is the symbolism.”
“The bombing resonated even beyond Nigeria’s borders,” Djadi added, “even across Nigeria’s neighbors, like Niger, Mali and other countries. People are watching because of what happened, (thinking) if this can happen to Nigeria, it can happen to countries like Mali, Niger or elsewhere. They are watching. They are taking note of that.”
On Thursday, U.S. and Nigerian officials met in a plenary session attended by Brennan to address President Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.
At the meeting, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker told those present, “Today we are here to determine how we can work together to deter, prioritizing counterterrorism and insecurity, investigating attacks, holding perpetrators accountable and reducing the number of killings, forced displacements and abductions of Christians.”
The meeting took place in Abuja. Just over 80 miles away, four days earlier, over 160 worshippers were kidnapped from three churches in northern Kaduna state during Sunday services, it is believed.
In an interview with The New York Times earlier this month, President Trump said more strikes could be made against Nigeria, “If they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”
This week, when asked if further strikes are possible, an official told Digital, “That’s a question for the White House. But I can tell you our Nigerian partners are asking for more of our help. And so we’re going to give it to them.”
There are some American boots on the ground, but their numbers are not significant, Brennan said, adding, “a lot of assessment (is) going on. So we have a small team that the Nigerians invited in, and we’re working with them to assess their needs, and to create opportunities that we can both capitalize on together.”
Some military equipment is being shipped in from the U.S., Brennan said, but “it’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s things they (the Nigerians) had already purchased, as far as ammunition, things that make to help them be more accurate in their operations against ISIS, West Africa Province and Boko Haram.”
Rabiu Ibrahim, Nigeria’s special assistant to the minister of information and national orientation, told Digital, “Nigeria’s primary and unwavering stance is that terrorism, in all its forms, is a global scourge that requires a collective, yet sovereignly respectful, response. The U.S. military actions in our region are viewed through this lens. We acknowledge that any action which genuinely degrades the capability of terrorist groups threatening the stability of the Sahel and our own national security is a tactical component in a much larger strategic picture.”
Ibrahim added, “We have noted, through our own intelligence and battlefield evidence, that such external kinetic actions can disrupt command structures, degrade logistics and create atmospherics of uncertainty among the remnants of groups like ISWAP and Boko Haram.” “Our cooperation with the United States is robust, multifaceted and transcends mere rhetoric,” Ibrahim continued, saying it is focused on key areas, including “capacity building and training: Nigerian units, particularly in intelligence, aviation and special operations, have received advanced training that directly enhances their operational effectiveness in theater.”
Ibrahim said Nigeria also benefits from the U.S. through intelligence sharing and material and technical support, including night-vision capabilities, claiming “it is not a patron-client relationship, but a partnership where Nigerian leadership on the ground is augmented by specific, requested external support.”