The United States has announced that it has no intentions to relocate its Africa Command from its current base in Germany to Nigeria or any other part of Africa despite the worsening state of insecurity in the region.
This response is coming barely two weeks after the President, Muhammadu Buhari, appealed to the US government to consider relocating AFRICOM to Africa to assist Nigeria and other adjoining countries to combat worsening terrorism, banditry, and other security crises currently bedeviling the region.
Africa Today News recalls that President Buhari made the plea in a virtual meeting with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on April 27.
Germany-based Africa Command (AFRICOM) is the US military headquarters that oversees its operations in Africa.
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Buhari’s request followed a series of recent military casualties in Nigeria’s decade-long fight against Boko Haram terrorists, fresh expansion of the insurgents’ bases to Niger and Nasarawa States, and heavy waves of abductions and killings by bandits in the North.
Buhari said, ‘The security challenges in Nigeria remain of great concern to us and impacted more negatively, by existing complex negative pressures in the Sahel, Central, and West Africa, as well as the Lake Chad Region.
‘Compounded as the situation remains, Nigeria and her security forces remain resolutely committed to containing them and addressing their root causes.
‘The support of important and strategic partners like the United States cannot be overstated as the consequences of insecurity will affect all nations, hence the imperative for concerted cooperation and collaboration of all nations to overcome these challenges.
‘In this connection, and considering the growing security challenges in West and Central Africa, Gulf of Guinea, Lake Chad region and the Sahel, weighing heavily on Africa, it underscores the need for the United States to consider relocating AFRICOM headquarters from Stuttgart, Germany to Africa and near the Theatre of Operation.’
However, the US government yesterday ruled out any plan to relocate AFRICOM from its current base in Germany to Nigeria or any part of Africa anytime soon.
According to the United States Department of Defence’ Pentagon, previous studies have shown that the cost of relocating AFRICOM From Germany to Africa is very huge.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK