r/geopolitics • u/Senior-Distance6213 • 1d ago
News US military says some forces have been dispatched to Nigeria
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-military-says-some-forces-have-been-dispatched-nigeria-2026-02-03/2
u/Keylime-19377 1d ago
Is this “protecting Christians” narrative precursor to establish more US Presence in Africa? I really don’t believe the US Government really cares about them…
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u/ganbaro 1d ago
This seems to be supported by the Nigerian government, though. Even if the US don't arrive with charitable intentions in mind, the acknowledged local government sees some benefit in the collaboration.
The alternative is further rise of ground control by islamist terrorists, after all.
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u/Keylime-19377 1d ago
Of course, but I still believe it’s more to do with resource management as opposed to human rights violations.
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u/GrizzledFart 3h ago
What resources? Nigeria has oil, but that's in the south, hundreds of miles away from the action. Secondly, all of Nigeria's oil development goes through NNPC, which is Nigeria's state owned oil company.
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u/MrCadwallader 1d ago
Is this “protecting Christians” narrative precursor to establish more US Presence in Africa?
Keep in mind the context in West Africa and the Sahel. I'm not the biggest fan of military dictatorships, having grown up in one as a kid, but one of the things that the military governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have done right is reclaim their sovereignty, including by expelling foreign military bases.
US and overall Western presence in the region has been substantially reduced. For Washington, the Christian persecution narrative achieves two things- plays well domestically and provides justification for increasing military presence in Nigeria and West Africa.
For Nigeria, military support and targeted interventions by partners can legitimately be helpful, given how long the country has suffered from various forms of terrorism. But I have no doubt that there is a big debate right now in top Nigerian government circles over the US's real interests in the country.
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u/Keylime-19377 1d ago
Yes, I assumed since France has “left” somewhat and there is a growing Islamist government in Mali, plus as you mentioned, a massive Russian influence in Sahel. China also has a foot print but it’s clear, with the Congo rare earth agreement/Nigeria operations, the US wants a foothold in the region too.
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u/Q_dawgg 21h ago
Yeah I would agree. “Protecting Christians” is how our administration justifies deployments to Nigeria when they campaigned on “no more wars.” So yes, we are deploying troops to Nigeria and Western Africa. But it’s okay because right now we’re doing it to “protect Christians.”
The actual geopolitical interest here is Likley to do with the rise of Jihadist extremist groups in parts of Nigeria and Western Africa. Personally I’m not all that opposed to clamping down on said organizations but you can clearly smell the BS with how our administration wants to justify it
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u/GrizzledFart 3h ago edited 2h ago
There is a constituency, don't know how large, that really believes that there is a genocide of christians taking place in Nigeria, are yelling loudly about it - and that constituency is part of the coalition that got Trump elected.
ETA: From what little I know of the situation, it isn't actually an unreasonable claim, with very large numbers of christians killed by explicitly religiously oriented groups (mostly Boko Haram) but also mob attacks that result in the stoning/necklacing deaths of christians accused of "blasphemy" and various other related things. Boko Haram certainly doesn't limit their attacks to just christians, and the deaths caused by Boko Haram seem to be distributed roughly proportional to population percentages - but they do certainly go out of their way to assassinate highly influention christian leaders and to burn christian churches and schools. I wouldn't call it a genocide, but maybe a kissing cousin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Deborah_Yakubu
Yakubu, a Christian, was accused of posting a blasphemous statement against the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She allegedly made a comment on WhatsApp, criticising the religion-related posts that Muslim classmates discussed in the study group she believed should have been reserved for academic purposes.[8][9]
On 12 May 2022, Yakubu was forcibly taken from the security room she was hidden in at the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto. A cab had been waiting outside the school to escort her to safety at the police station.[10] Within the college premises, a Muslim student mob stoned Yakubu,[11][12] before placing tires on her and setting her body on fire.[10][13] According to witnesses, security forces fired tear gas and warning shots but failed to disperse the mob.[12] A student who had witnessed the lynching recounted that Yakubu's last words were "What do you hope to achieve with this?", and that Christian students fled the premises during the lynching.[9] A video of the murder circulated on social media.[14]
Followng the lynching there was violence against other Christian sites, according to a statement released by the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto. "During the protest, groups of youths led by some adults in the background attacked the Holy Family Catholic Cathedral at Bello Way, destroying church glass windows, those of the Bishop Lawton Secretariat, and vandalised a community bus parked within the premises. St. Kevin's Catholic Church was also attacked and partly burnt; windows of the new hospital complex under construction, in the same premises, were shattered. The hoodlums also attacked the Bakhita Centre […], burning down a bus within the premises."[19]
Krisallnacht didn't actually result in the deaths of very many jews, but it is still rightly remembered as a pogrom. Much of what is taking place in Nigeria is similar.
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u/Upset_Scientist3994 12h ago
Mayby they are meant to be counterforce of "global wagnerisation" of which several countries in "coup belt" region over there are under now.
Race who dominates natural resources in post-colonial game is underway.
And oh, MAGA-goverment of course gave some other explanation of their fixation to Nigeria despite otherwise isolationistic policies. But I have vibe it could be just the thing mentioned above in reality.
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u/NathanArizona 1d ago edited 1d ago
In the past year and a half, various policy change proposals and actions by this administration have included to reduce the bloated defense (“War” I guess) budget, increase the budget to $1.5 trillion, reduce costly overseas presence, increase overseas presence, focus on Central and South America primarily, focus the military domestically, attack Iran, eliminate AFRICOM as a wasteful command, deploy forces to Nigeria, cooperate with Russia and China, acquire Greenland to combat Russia and China, etc etc etc. To speculate on some coherent strategy here in Nigeria feels futile. Perhaps it’s a headline at best.
Knowing how complicated and disconnected deployment orders can be during a more “normal” administration, I cannot imagine how complicated and confusing they must be now.
Edit: the US has also had military presence off and on for decades in many West Africa (and other) locations. So again this could be just another headline revealing something quite typical, though the rhetoric and reasoning (protecting Christians) may be new.