The animosity between the Nigerian government and its American counterpart has deepened with the Nigerian government cancelling a plan to have the United States military train a battalion of the Nigerian army to confront the extremist Boko Haram sect.
Nigerian officials did not provide reasons for the decision Monday, but the United States government said it.....
regretted the move.
“At the request of the Nigerian government, the United States will discontinue its training of a Nigerian Army battalion,” the U.S. government, through its embassy in Abuja, said in a statement.
It said that the first two phases of the
training were conducted between April and August, 2014, noting that it
had provided untrained civilian personnel with basic soldiering skills.
A statement from the Information Office
of the US Embassy in Abuja, on Monday, regretted what it described as
the premature termination of the exercise programme, which it said would
have trained the Nigerian soldiers to build their capacity to counter
the Boko Haram terrorists.
The US government, however, said it would
continue other aspects of the extensive bilateral security
relationship, as well as all other assistance programmes.
After months of informal allegations, the Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S. Ade Adefuye, had in November openly accused the United States of refusing to sell arms and equipment to Nigeria to help defeat Boko Haram.
In its response, the American government said it has supported Nigeria to the extent its law permits, and accused the Nigerian security forces of human rights violations.
The U.S. said its laws disallow sales of arms to countries with such human rights record.
Even so, the American government said it has provided some military equipment to Nigeria.
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