US troop deployment against Boko Haram is 'largest of its kind'

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/us-troop-deployment-against-boko-haram-is-largest-of-its-kind/a-18785031



The US is to deploy up to 300 military personnel to Cameroon for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations against militant Boko Haram insurgents.

US troop deployment against Boko Haram is 'largest of its kind'
Jane Ayeko-Kummeth
15.10.2015

Nigeria has welcomed a US decision to send up to 300 military personnel to Cameroon to help the regional fight against Boko Haram. According to the AFP news agency, President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu said the deployment was a "welcome development" while the military said it demonstrated cooperation was needed against the Islamists.

US President Barack Obama says the move is part of an effort to conduct airborne intelligence gathering in support of ongoing regional counter extremist efforts.

Boko Haram, which has pledged its allegiance to"Islamic State" (IS), has stepped up attacks in Nigeria and northern Cameroon since Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May. DW spoke to Ryan Cummings, a security analysis for sub-Saharan Africa at the crisis management assistance company Red24.

DW: How significant is the deployment of the US troops and the role they are to play in the fight against Boko Haram?

Ryan Cummings: I think we need to place Barack Obama's decision to deploy US troops in the context of the fight against Boko Haram. It is by no means the first occasion that the US administration is deploying its military assets against the Islamist extremist group. We saw in 2014, in the aftermath of the Chibok kidnapping in the northeast of Nigeria when close to 200 girls were kidnapped, that the US government deployed a number of military advisers to the capital of Chad, N'Djamena, to assist with surveillance and intelligence gathering on Boko Haram. This was specifically focused on trying to figure out where the group was holding the girls, but also on other aspects of the Boko Haram organization, specifically looking at the size of the organization and where they maintained an operational presence.

[pipoman]

1. Islamic extremists suck.