Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Under-secretary of State for African Affairs
The United States announced a $5 billion contribution to the Multinational Joint Task Force to in order to assist their battle against Boko Haram.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of Bureau of African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced this at a news briefing at the African Union Summit on Monday.
“We are having discussions with President Buhari on how we might bolster our support. We have already been working with them and providing information.
“We are also providing some equipment and support and we have a number of meetings with the countries who are members of the Multinational Joint Task Force to look at other areas we might support,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said in her remarks.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said that Africa had gone through “some really horrendous terrorist attacks” over the past two years.
She listed the Westgate and Garissa University attacks in Kenya, and the Boko Haram attacks particularly, the kidnapping of the Chibok girls, among others.
“We are working closely with the Lake Chad Basin countries: Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon to address the issues of Boko Haram,” she said.
She stated that the the U.S.’s top priority in Africa is security as they have trained 250,000 U.N. peacekeepers.
The U.S. envoy also showed support to the warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
She said that the U.S. disapproved at plans by some African leaders to bypass the constitution to extend their terms in office, saying they support a two-term limit in office.
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