Following Reuters’ reporting on an illegal abortion program and the execution of children by the Nigerian military, U.S. Senator Jim Risch, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked for a review of U.S. security assistance and cooperation programs in Nigeria.
Risch requested that the State Department swiftly assess U.S. security support and cooperation in addition to considering the potential use of sanctions in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Risch wrote in the letter dated Friday, “I look forward to hearing more about the Department’s planned response to the serious and abhorrent allegations levied against a long-time 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.
The Nigerian minister of information was unavailable to react to the requested review right away.
In the northeast of the country, the Nigerian military has carried out a covert, organized, and illegal abortion program since at least 2013, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls.
Islamist extremists had kidnapped and sexually assaulted many of them. Witnesses claim that those who refused to comply were beaten, detained 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.
Additionally, Reuters revealed this week that during their grueling 13-year conflict with Islamist militants in Nigeria’s northeast, the Nigerian Army and its allies have killed children.
According to Nigerian military commanders who spoke to Reuters, the army has never killed children as a goal. They said that the reporting in the piece was offensive to Nigerians and was a result of an international campaign to weaken the nation’s war on insurgents.
According to reports, Nigeria’s military chief on Friday urged the National Human Rights Commission to open a separate probe into the illegal abortion program mentioned by Reuters.
According to reports, the Human Rights Commission had already said that an investigation will be opened.
When questioned about Risch’s letter by a representative of the U.S. State Department, the spokeswoman stated that the country is still investigating the Reuters reporting and will then decide what to do next.
The spokesperson stated that decisions regarding whether to provide military training and equipment are decided on an individual basis and take into account a number of variables, including adherence to the law of armed conflict and respect for human rights.
The strong human rights, damage prevention, and military justice and accountability components, are included in our current defense purchases to Nigeria.
According to the spokeswoman, the department conducts background checks on all Nigerian security force units before approving them for training and assistance. If there is solid evidence that a force unit has seriously violated human rights, the agency would not offer them security help.
A-29 Super Tucanos, a slow-flying jet built by Embraer that can give close air support to infantry in a manner similar to a helicopter, were sent to Nigeria last year, and the United States earlier this year approved the sale of about $1 billion worth of armaments to that country.
The agreement, which had been approved in April, had been delayed because of worries that the Nigerian government would be violating human rights.
A further $6 million was committed by the US to the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program between 2016 and 2020.
