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The United States (US) Africa Command has drawn up plans up for potential strikes in Northern Nigeria after President Donald Trump’s announcement over the weekend threatening military action to stop what he described as attacks on “CHERISHED Christians.”
The plans from the command had three options — light, medium and heavy — and were intended to be escalatory., according to a report by the New York Times.
The heavy option, military officials said, would be to move an aircraft carrier group into the Gulf of Guinea and to deploy fighters and perhaps long-range bombers to conduct strikes deep in northern Nigeria.
The medium option being put forward by Africa Command, officials said, includes drone strikes on militant camps, bases, convoys and vehicles in northern Nigeria. American Predator and Reaper drones can loiter for hours before striking, and other U.S. intelligence can gather information on specific targets’ pattern of life.
But that option comes with its own issues, not least being that the U.S. military in August vacated its two nearest drone bases, in Agadez and Niamey, both in neighboring Niger. Russian forces now occupy those bases.
Drones launched from Niamey or Agadez could reach Nigeria in an hour, one military official said. But now, the closest known places from which the United States could launch drones are southern Europe and perhaps Djibouti, in East Africa, where the U.S. military has a large base.
The light option, the officials said, included what the military called partner-enabled operations. Under that option, the U.S. military and the State Department would support government forces in Nigeria to target Boko Haram and other Islamic insurgents who have attacked, kidnapped and murdered civilians, mostly in northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes U.S. assistance in targeting Islamist insurgents but added the caveat that any action must respect Nigeria’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity.
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