total of 546 “military activities,” which is an
average of one and half military missions a
day. While we don’t know much about the
purpose of these activities, keep in mind that
AFRICOM’s mission is to “advance U.S.
national security interests.”
And advancing they are. According to one
report, in 2013, American troops entered
and advanced American interests in Niger,
Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Burundi, Mauritania,
South Africa, Chad, Togo, Cameroon, São
Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Guinea,
Lesotho, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and South
Sudan.
The U.S. military conducted 128 separate
“military activities” in 28 African countries
between June and December of 2013. These
are in conjunction to U.S. led drone
operations which are occurring in Northern
Nigeria and Somalia. There are also counterterrorism outposts in Djibouti and Niger and
covert bases in Ethiopia and the
Seychelles which are serving as launching
pads for the U.S. military to carry out
surveillance and armed drone strikes.
Although most of these activities are covert,
we do know that the U.S. military has had a
destabilizing effect in a few countries. For
example, a New York Times article confirmed
that the man who overthrew
the elected Malian government in 2012 was
trained and mentored by the United States
between 2004 and 2010. Further, a
U.S. trained battalion in the Democratic
Republic of Congo was denounced by the
United Nations for committing mass rapes.
Now the United States is gaining more
ground in Africa by sending military advisors
and more drones, sorry, I mean security
personnel and assets to Nigeria to assist the
Nigerian military, who by the way, have a
history of committing mass atrocities against
the Nigerian people.
Knowing this, you can understand my
apprehension for President Obama’s
decision. As the Nigerian-American writer
Teju Cole said yesterday, the involvement of
the U.S. government and military will
only lead to more militarism, less oversight,
and less democracy.
Also, the last time military advisors were sent
to Africa, they didn’t do much good.
Remember #KONY2012? When President
Obama sent 100 combat-equipped troops to
capture or kill Lord’s Resistance Army leader
Joseph Kony in Central Africa? Well, they
haven’t found him and although they
momentarily stopped looking, President
Obama sent more troops in March 2014 who
now roam Uganda, Central African Republic,
South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
Consequently, your calls for the United
States to get involved in this crisis
undermines the democratic process in
Nigeria and co-opts the growing movement
against the inept and kleptocratic Jonathan
administration. It was Nigerians who took
their good for nothing President to task and
challenged him to address the plight of the
missing girls. It is in their hands to seek
justice for these girls and to ensure that the
Nigerian government is held accountable.
Your emphasis on U.S. action does more
harm to the people you are supposedly trying
to help and it only expands and sustain U.S.
military might.
If you must do something, learn more about
the amazing activists and journalists like this
one, this one, and this one just to name a few,
who have risked arrests and their lives as
they challenge the Nigerian government to do
better for its people within the democratic
process. If you must tweet, tweet to support
and embolden them, don’t direct your calls to
action to the United States government who
seeks to only embolden American militarism.
Don’t join the American government and
military in co-opting this movement started
and sustained by Nigerians.
Jumoke Balogun is a Nigerian-American. She
is the co-founder and co-editor of
compareafrique.com. Seeing Nigerians of all
tribes and religious affiliation together in her
hometown of Oshogbo, in Lagos, Abuja,
Kano and elsewhere protesting and
controlling the destiny of their nation fuels
h er to do more and be better. She dreams
about handing down a festival of slaps to
President Goodluck Jonathan and Patience
Jonathan.
Salaam.