The U.S. Africa Command says it has asked Washington to send a small group of military advisers to Nigeria to assist that military’s fight against the Islamic insurgency Boko Haram.
Africa Command said Friday that, at the request of the Nigerian government, Special Operations Command Africa sent staff in recent months to conduct a preliminary assessment on assisting select Nigerian units. It says the platoon-sized element would be strictly to advise and assist.
“At the request of the Nigerian government, the SOCAFRICA (Special Operations Command Africa) component of USAFRICOM conducted a preliminary assessment regarding the feasibility of resuming a limited advise-and-assist mission alongside select Nigerian units,” USAFRICOM said in a statement.
The statement added that the proposals envisaged a “platoon-sized” team, typically meaning a group of between 12-30 troops. The proposals are pending approval from various government departments and military officials.
The New York Times earlier reported that the advisers would be based in Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria’s northeast that last month was targeted by Boko Haram suicide bombers.
Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency has killed at least 20,000 people and displaced 2.8 million, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations.
