ABUJA, Nigeria (CU)_The Nigerian President on Tuesday (27 April) urged the United States to consider moving its military headquarters overseeing Africa, to the continent, from Germany. During a virtual meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Muhammadu Buhari said the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) should be relocated to Africa in order to better tackle growing armed violence in the region, as several African nations face multiple security challenges.
Nigeria has been facing a decade-long insurgency by Boko Haram, one of the largest Islamist militant groups in the continent, which has also being carrying out attacks in Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The country has also been battling with an escalation in mass kidnappings of students by armed gangs, locally known as “bandits”, who have killed six students being killed over the past few days.
Meanwhile, groups with ties to Islamic State and al Qaeda have been attacking security forces and civilians in the Sahel region in West Africa, despite intervention by the United Nations.
Therefore, President Buhari urged the US to re-locate the AFRICOM headquarters to continent, “near the theatre of operation”, in light of the growing security challenges across the region, particularly in West and Central Africa.
“The security challenges in Nigeria remain of great concern to us and impacted more negatively by existing complex negative pressures in the Sahel, Central and West Africa, as well as the Lake Chad Region,” he noted.
Last week, long-time president of Chad, Idriss Deby, died from wounds sustained during a battle against rebels. Under his command, Chadian soldiers formed a multinational force to confront Boko Haram. He was also a huge figure in the politics of west-central Africa and an important ally for Western nations in their battle against Islamist militants.
