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US selling warplanes to Nigeria would be a ‘mistake’ - NYT

Selling the Nigerian government warplanes would be a “mistake” said a New York Times editorial this week, as the West African country looks to purchase 12 jets from the USA.

Though current Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is “an improvement” over his predecessor, “he has not done enough to end corruption and respond to charges that the army has committed war crimes in its fight against the group,” said the editorial. “Selling him the planes now would be a mistake.”

It went on to note that the US State Department’s latest annual human rights report stated Nigerian security forces are alleged to have engaged in extrajudicial killings, torture and rape. Last month Amnesty International to call for an investigation into reports that Nigeria's military secretly buried more than 300 Shia Muslims in a mass grave.

The editorial also quoted Tim Rieser, aide to US Senator who wrote legislature banning US aid from reaching militaries accused of abuses as stating, “We don’t have confidence in the Nigerians’ ability to use them in a manner that complies with the laws of war and doesn’t end up disproportionately harming civilians, nor in the capability of the U.S. government to monitor their use”.

See the full text of the editorial here.

Reports of a deal between the US and Nigeria comes after the Sri Lankan Navy has for the first time exported attack vessels, after winning a contract from the Nigerian government.

A study team from the Nigerian National Defence College had visited the Sri Lankan Naval Headquarters last year, with reports that the Nigerian military was considering using Sri Lanka’s military strategy it used against Tamils, in its war against Boko Haram.

Commenting on the reports last year, Human Rights Watch Media Director Andre Strehlein, said ‘It’s hard to imagine a worse idea’.

See our earlier post:

Sri Lankan navy exports attack craft to Nigeria (08 May 2016)

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