US Congress members accuse Nigeria of violating international laws and demand that the $1b arms sale be scrapped.

Following Reuters reporting on an illegal abortion program and the targeted killing of children by the Nigerian military, two members of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee called on President Joe Biden to cancel a nearly $1 billion arms sale to Nigeria on Wednesday.

Members of the subcommittee on Africa Sara Jacobs, a Democrat from California, and Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, both called for a review of the security assistance and cooperation programs in Nigeria, along with a risk assessment of civilian casualties and abuses brought on by the arms assistance.

The congressmen wrote: “We write to voice our concern about current U.S. policy on and military support to Nigeria.”

The United States has provided Nigeria with security assistance along with training that emphasizes adherence to international law. However, the MPs claimed that according to reports from humanitarian organizations, Nigeria’s security forces “appears to have a poor understanding of humanitarian law and tools for successful engagement with local populations.”

The 14-year fight between the Nigerian military and Islamist rebels in the nation’s northeast has received little help from Washington thus far, and the Congress members noted that there have been reports of insurgents capturing weaponry.

The congressmen urged the administration to reject the almost $1 billion arms transaction, writing, “Therefore, we feel continuing to move forward with the approximately $1 billion arms sale would be exceedingly improper.”

A comment was not immediately given by the White House.

After senators on both sides of the aisle halted the agreement over worries about additional rights violations, the U.S. State Department approved the largest-ever arms sale and other military assistance to Nigeria in April.

This is the second time recently that Congress has asked for a review. U.S. Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sought a review of U.S. security aid and cooperation programs in Nigeria and the potential use of penalties for alleged abuses after the Reuters reports were published in December.

In the letter, the Idaho senator stated, “I look forward to hearing more about the (State) Department’s planned response to the serious and abhorrent allegations levied against a long-standing recipient of U.S. security assistance and cooperation which, if deemed credible, have done irreparable harm to a generation of Nigerian citizens and to U.S. credibility in the region.

According to a Reuter investigation, the Nigerian military has been aborting women and girls in the northeast of the country since at least 2013 under the cover of a secret, widespread, and illegal abortion program. By Islamist extremists, several had been abducted and raped. Witnesses alleged that those who refused to comply were beaten, kept at gunpoint, or drugged.

Nigerian military commanders denied the existence of the operation and claimed that Reuters’ article was a result of an international campaign to discredit the nation’s efforts to combat rebels.

According to Reuters, the Nigerian Army and its allies have killed children throughout their long 13-year conflict with Islamist extremists in the northeast of the country. According to Nigerian military commanders who spoke to Reuters, the army has never killed children as a goal.

The U.S. departments of state and defense, the German foreign ministry, the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch all demanded that the Nigerian government look into the “Nightmare in Nigeria” Reuters series. According to human rights experts, the army may have committed war crimes.

Nigeria’s defense ministry agreed to assist in an investigation being conducted by the Nigerian Commission on Human Rights in the wake of international outrage.