Nigeria: Boko Haram kidnappings used to justify US military build-up in Africa - World Socialist Web Site
Nigeria: Boko Haram kidnappings used to justify US military build-up in Africa - World Socialist Web Site
Another clear explanation. And yes I know it is a socialist website. I post based on material worth discussing, not ideology. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/05/10/nige-m10.htm
The United States has sent military and security “advisers” to
Nigeria to help President Goodluck Jonathan’s government rescue more
than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist group Boko Haram.
Britain has also sent security forces, with the former colonial power
stating Thursday that it will be working closely with Washington.
On Friday, US secretary of state John Kerry said: “Our inter-agency
team is hitting the ground in Nigeria now and they are going to be
working in concert with President Goodluck Jonathan’s government to do
everything that we possibly can to return these girls to their families
and their communities.”
The kidnapping presents Washington, whose requests to mount military
and intelligence operations from Nigeria had repeatedly been rebuffed,
with a golden opportunity to secure a foothold in the oil-rich country,
now Africa’s largest economy. This is part of its efforts to build up a
string of military bases across the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and West
Africa.
The move is in line with a broader “pivot to Africa,” aimed at
securing control of the continent’s huge mineral and energy resources
and containing, if not excluding, China from Africa. China has now
surpassed the US as Africa’s foremost trading partner and has huge
mining, energy and infrastructure investments in the continent.
