Colby Goodman
During a state visit to Nigeria in early September, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Linda Thomas-Greenfield anounced that the United States was preparing to launch a major border security program to help Nigeria and its neighbors combat the growing Boko Haram threat. This blog seeks to identify what this border control program will look like as well as address any potential challenges to the program's success.
After years of some U.S. security experts pushing for the United States to provide more governance-related U.S. security assistance to African security forces, the White House recently boosted such governance assistance efforts.
As African countries meet tomorrow at an African Union summit in Kenya to better address terrorism on the continent, new evidence shows potential signs of the U.S. and U.N. designated terrorist group, Ansar Dine, in the small West African country of Togo.
In the midst of a push by some U.S. policy makers to provide more U.S. aid to the Nigerian security forces to combat Boko Haram despite a generally poor human rights record, Amnesty International released video footage reportedly showing fresh evidence of human rights violations committed by the Nigerian military.
In connection with this week’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the United States is planning to speak with African leaders about how to “build their capacity to respond to security challenges on the continent.” According to the Obama Administration’s congressional budget request for FY 2015, “the promotion of peace and security remains one of the United States’ highest priorities” in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, which Africa countries and sub-regions will receive the most U.S. security assistance for FY 2015 and how does this assistance compare with previous years.
Despite criticism by the Pentagon about human rights restrictions getting in the way, the Senate Armed Services Committee moved forward on May 22 to permanently restrict U.S.