Boko Haram is still holding territory in Northern Nigeria, commander of<\/p>\n
the US Africa Command (USAFRICOM), General David Rodriguez, has said.<\/p>\n
General Rodriguez\u2019s claim challenges Nigeria\u2019s official position on the
\nseven-year old insurgency that has so far claimed about 20,000 lives and
\ndisplaced 2.5 million people.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez\u2019s assertion comes almost two months after President Muhammadu
\nBuhari told the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon,
\nthat the terrorist group was no longer \u201cholding any territory as we
\nspeak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari, who was speaking on the sidelines of the World Future Energy
\nSummit in the UAE, said Nigerian Armed Forces in collaboration with the
\nMultinational Joint Task Force (MNTJF) had driven the terrorist group from
\nNigerian territory into \u201cfall-back positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to an online news portal, Premium Times, Rodriguez spoke on
\nTuesday in response to a question during testimony before the US Senate
\nArmed Services Committee reviewing fiscal year 2017 defence budget.<\/p>\n
His comment about Boko Haram was in response to a question by Senator
\nAngus King of Maine who asked about Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram more than 90
\nminutes into the testimony.<\/p>\n
Angus\u2019 direct question to General Rodriguez was: \u201cIs Al-Shabaab and Boko
\nHaram growing, are they adding members? I know they don\u2019t hold territory,
\nare they adding areas of influence?\u201d to which Rodriguez replied, \u201cactually
\nsir, Boko Haram does hold some significant territory in Northern Nigeria
\nas do Al-Shabaab in limited areas of Somalia.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that recently there is a \u201ctactical upswing\u201d in Al-Shabaab\u2019s
\noperations in Somali but did not elaborate on Boko Haram\u2019s operations,
\nadding in his written testimony to the Senate Committee that containing
\nand degrading the ISIL-affiliated Boko Haram remains one of AFRICOM\u2019s top
\npriority.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are watching carefully for signs that the threat posed by Boko Haram
\nto US persons is growing as a result of the group\u2019s alignment with ISIL,\u201d
\nRodriguez said.
\nHe praised MNJTF allies and partners such as the African Union, France,
\nthe United Kingdom, the European Union, and the Department of State for
\nengaging in the counter-Boko Haram effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur engagement now can assist our African partners in realizing their
\npotential and gaining the capability to solve African problems,\u201d Rodriguez
\nsaid. \u201cAfrican solutions to African problems are, in the long run, in the
\nbest interest of Africans, Americans, and indeed the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez, a four-star general, became the third commander of AFRICOM in
\nApril 2013. US Africa Command is one of six unified geographic combatant
\ncommands within the United States Department of Defence unified command
\nstructure.<\/p>\n
He appeared before the Senate committee with Generals Lloyd Austin of US
\nCentral Command and Joseph Votel of US Special Operations Command.<\/p>\n
General Rodriguez\u2019s testimony came couple weeks after the Subcommittee on
\nTerrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade at the US Congress also convened
\nhearings where two policy experts urged the US government to ramp up the
\npush against Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Cooke of the Centre for International and Strategic Studies
\n(CSIS) and Alice Friend of the Centre for New American Security (CNAS),
\nurged lawmakers to acknowledge and support real advances against Boko
\nHaram that have degraded the group and weakened its leadership over the
\nlast 18 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boko Haram is still holding territory in Northern Nigeria, commander of the US Africa Command (USAFRICOM), General David Rodriguez, has said. General Rodriguez\u2019s claim challenges Nigeria\u2019s official position on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n