The State Department official said
Buhari and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry would discuss future security
assistance and expanded economic ties in a meeting on the sidelines of the new
president's inauguration on Friday.
- Nigerien special forces prepare to fight Boko Haram in Diffa March 26, 2015. (REUTERS/Joe Penney)
The United States is prepared to
send military trainers to Nigeria to help new President Muhammadu Buhari's
armed forces improve their intelligence gathering and logistics, a senior State
Department official said on Friday.
Strains between U.S. military
advisers and the Nigerian army over human rights abuses and corruption under
Buhari's predecessor Goodluck Jonathan undermined cooperation in efforts
to counter the six-year-old Boko Haram insurgency.
The State Department official said
Buhari and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry would discuss future
security assistance and expanded economic ties in a meeting on the sidelines of
the new president's inauguration on Friday.
The official, speaking on condition
of anonymity ahead of Kerry's visit to Abuja, said initial talks with Buhari
indicated he wanted a "close relationship" with the United States.
"We have every indication
that we'll be able to start a new chapter. We continue to have advisers there
... what I'm talking about would be new advisers in areas where we would
expand."
Nigerian security forces have scored
some successes against Boko Haram this year. The jihadists held an area of
northeast Nigeria roughly the size of Belgium at the start of 2015 but have
since been beaten back by counter-attacking government forces backed by those
of neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
The State Department official said
Washington was willing to help train Nigeria's security forces in intelligence
and logistics as well as military justice.
"We want to make sure and
prioritize based on what President-elect Buhari and his top military team
needs," the official said, acknowledging that training of a newly created
army battalion last year "ran into some difficulties.
"(But) we think we can pretty
quickly get back on track."
Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009, attacking towns and
villages and killing thousands of people in pursuit of a state adhering to
strict sharia law. The militants' abduction of 200 schoolgirls in April 2014
provoked outrage across the world.
The State Department official said
that during his discussions with Buhari, Kerry would also express U.S. interest
in more economic cooperation with Nigeria, Africa's biggest energy producer and
most populous country.
American firms were especially
interested in investing in Nigeria's oil and gas sector and in manufacturing.
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