(AFP) – US President Barack Obama will deploy up to 300 military personnel
\nto Cameroon for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations
\nagainst militant Boko Haram insurgents, he informed Congress on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In a letter released by the White House, Obama said 90 personnel had
\nalready been deployed, marking a modest but significant escalation of US
\ninvolvement in the fight against the Islamic State-allied group.<\/p>\n
Washington has largely shied away from engaging its vast military assets
\nto combat Boko Haram, with policymakers wary of fueling militant
\nrecruitment or fusing the group’s ties with Middle Eastern Islamists.<\/p>\n
In making Wednesday’s announcement, the White House was at pains to stress
\nthat personnel would not take part in combat operations and would be armed
\nonly for self-defense.<\/p>\n
The onus, US officials said, would still be on a regional coalition that
\nhas tried to keep a once regional Muslim anti-colonial movement from
\nmetastasizing into a regional jihadist threat.<\/p>\n
“It will be part of a broader regional effort to stop the spread of Boko
\nHaram and other violent extremist organizations in West Africa,” said
\nWhite House spokesman Josh Earnest.<\/p>\n
The mission will last “until their support is no longer needed,” Obama’s
\nletter said.<\/p>\n
The White House decision comes as Boko Haram steadily expands operations
\nbeyond its traditional base in northern Nigeria.<\/p>\n
An uptick in violence is expected in the coming weeks with the end of the
\nrainy season and amid growing resistance to a nascent multi-national joint
\ntask force.<\/p>\n
Cameroon has been among those coalition countries hit.<\/p>\n
Twin suicide blasts on Sunday killed at least nine people and injured 29
\nin far northern Cameroon.<\/p>\n
Nine people died when one of two suicide bombers detonated a device in a
\ntiny milk and donut restaurant in the village of Kangaleri.<\/p>\n
The second suicide bomber killed only herself, a local authority official
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
“Like northern Nigeria, northern Cameroon is predominantly Muslim and it
\nis also a part of the country that has historically been somewhat
\nmarginalized,” said John Campbell, a former US ambassador to Nigeria, now
\nwith the Council on Foreign Relations.<\/p>\n
The dual suicide attack came a day after triple explosions in Chad left 41
\ndead.<\/p>\n
Both countries are part of a regional coalition that has been fighting the
\nmilitants.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Campbell described the White House decision as “surprising.”<\/p>\n
“We are not talking about a very large force, but I do think that the
\nAmerican appetite for involvement in yet another Muslim civil war in a
\npart of the world that is pretty remote from American concern is
\nsurprising.”<\/p>\n
It may also come as a surprise in Abuja, where successive Nigerian
\ngovernments have asked for US assistance in fighting Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
Recently elected President Muhammadu Buhari has been feted by the White
\nHouse, but has not received significant US military support amid concerns
\nabout military abuses, including the alleged use of cluster munitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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