The United States says Al-Qaeda and ISIS are looking to make an inroad into Southern Nigeria. It also said Al-Qaeda has started penetr...
The United States says Al-Qaeda and ISIS are looking to make
an inroad into Southern Nigeria. It also said Al-Qaeda has started penetrating
the north-western part of the country.
In a media briefing, Dagvin Anderson, Commander of the US
special operations command, Africa, said Al-Qaeda is also expanding to other
parts of West Africa. In the remarks seen by TheCable, Anderson said the US
will continue to partner with Nigeria in sharing intelligence.
“We have engaged with
Nigeria and continue to engage with them in intel sharing and in understanding
what these violent extremists are doing,” he said. “And that has been
absolutely critical to their engagements up in the Borno state and into an
emerging area of northwest Nigeria that we’re seeing al-Qaeda starting to make
some inroads in.
“So, this intelligence sharing is absolutely vital and we
stay fully engaged with the government of Nigeria to provide them with an
understanding of what these terrorists are doing, what Boko Haram is doing,
what ISIS-West Africa is doing, and how ISIS and al-Qaeda are looking to expand
further south into the littoral areas.
Anderson regretted that despite successes recorded in
previous years, there has been a setback, adding: “We as a community of
international nations, keep thinking we have defeated them or we have put them
on their back foot and that they’re just moments from disintegration.”
Anderson said for international efforts to yield desired
results in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria, the government must take the
lead. “When it comes to Nigeria in general, Nigeria, obviously, is a critical
nation to West Africa. It is a critical nation and we realise that Nigeria is a
lynchpin,” he said.
Source
No comments