United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, says the U.S. is committed to lasting peace and security in Nigeria and Africa.
Blinken said this in Abuja on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, after meeting with President Bola Tinubu during his visit to Nigeria as part of his tour of African countries.
He, however, said the initiatives of the United States would greatly depend on the region’s dependable efforts at ensuring the safety of civilian populations.
He said: “Having said that, it’s important that we work to support our partners who are trying to find effective ways of providing security.
“We are working to support Nigeria, to support our Lake Chad region partners to strengthen the capacity of their security forces in a whole variety of ways to deal with insecurity. And yes, that does go to equipment and technology for weapons and we’re working on that.
“But it also goes to many other things including information sharing, intelligence, technical support, advice, and it goes to having a comprehensive approach that genuinely focuses on citizen security.
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“Working with local communities, in partnership, demonstrating the security forces that are there, first and foremost, to protect them and to support their needs.”
Blinken stated that the U.S. was concerned about the security challenges faced by Africa in securing the region from extreme terrorism, violence, and other criminal activities that affect the people.
He decried insecurity and resort to undemocratic means of changing democratically elected leaders like the situation in Niger Republic.
Blinken said the collaboration between African countries and the United States must be based on critical regional strategies to address these situations.
Blinken added: “So when you look at what we are doing, we’re providing assistance through a variety of methods through our diplomacy.
“Engaging with other countries through our security systems, through police and military justice programmes, reforms, which are vital through dialogue efforts through development programmes; all of these things work hand in hand.”
He noted that it was also important from the United States perspective and the perspective of the U.S. Congress to focus on making sure that civilians are protected.
He said the U.S. would continue to collaborate with regional and global partners to ensure that various strategies are employed to solve the worsening security situation in Africa.
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