Sending 300 U.S. military personnel to Cameroon to combat the West African terrorist group Boko Haram, President Barack Obama showed he isn’t hesitant to combat terrorism on the African continent. Unwilling to send U.S. ground troops to Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], Obama showed that he picks-and-chooses where to deploy U.S. assets. Loosely affiliated with ISIS, Boko Haram was notorious for the unthinkable April 14, 2014 kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls, prompting protests around the world, especially in the U.N. “Bring Back Our Girls,” became the slogan for the futile international effort to find and rescue the missing schoolgirls. Sending U.S. troops to Cameroon to help provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to track down and destroy the Boko Haram terror group prompted Obama to act decisively
With ISIS running amok in Iraq and Syria, Obama’s decision to send U.S. troops to Cameroon raised eyebrows. Insisting the troops would not be used in combat capacity, Obama tried to downplay the U.S. troop deployment, something he’s been reluctant to do since ending the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011. Whatever the link between ISIS and Boko Haram is anyone’s guess. What’s known about Boko Haram is that they seek, like Somali pirates, any opportunity to blackmail local authorities and foreign governments for cash payouts. In deploying U.S. forces, Obama made clear that it was up to local authorities to do the heavy lifting, especially combat operations. Like the White House policy in Syria and Iraq, Obama has been reluctant to deploy any more than token assets to the region. Few believe that the U.S. air campaign against ISIS has discouraged more terrorist piracy.
Sending any U.S. assets to Cameroon has more symbolic value, showing some sensitivity to Africa’s geopolitics. African Union officials based in Lagos have had little success in reigning in Boko Haram and other Islamic terrorist group controlling large parts of West and East Africa. “It will be part of a broader regional effort to stop the spread of Boko Haram and other violent extremist organizations in West Africa,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. Earnest emphasized that the heavy lifting in dealing with Boko Haram falls on the African Union and other regional powers. Obama talked directly with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari last month during the U.N. General Assembly in Manhattan’s Eastside. Vowing to keep U.S. troops as long as needed, Earnest said the mission will last “until their support is no longer needed,” underscoring Obama’s commitment.
Buhari expressed concerns to Obama at the U.N. that Boko Haram was expanding from northern Nigeria into Cameroon and Chad. Sending 300 U.S. advisors won’t change the ground game for Boko Haram that gets a free pass from the African Union and Nigerian authorities. Twin suicide blasts in a donut shop Sunday in Northern Cameron, killing nine and injuring 29, shows that Boko Haram has begun to terrorize areas outside Nigeria. “Like northern Nigeria, northern Cameroon is predominantly Muslim and it is also part of the country that has historically been somewhat marginalized,” former U.S. Nigeria Amb. John Campbell told the Council on Foreign Relations. President Obama can’t have it both ways: Sending U.S. military personnel to Cameroon but refusing to put boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria, fearing retaliation from Muslim groups.
Sending U.S. military personnel to Cameron gives Obvama some cover from past U.S. administrations that stays clear of Africa, even where mass genocides in Rwanda and South Sudan were well publicized in global circles. U.S. indifference to Africa has long plagued U.S. foreign policy, unwilling to take a stand against grotesque human rights abuses in the continent. Calling Obama’s move “surprising,” Campbell acknowledges that the limited scope of the U.S. operation is only token involvement, considering the scope of Boko Haram. White House officials worry that intervention in another Muslim civil war will create more animosity toward the U.S. and its allies. Sending any military help should be met favorably in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Generations of U.S. administrations have stayed clear of post-colonial African civil wars and border disputes.
Showing token support for Nigeria’s war against Boko Haram, Obama made friends with Nigeria’s new President Buhari. Whether limited U.S. military involvement makes any difference is anyone’s guess. Obama, the first black president, whose father’s ancestry was from Kenya, tried to show token support to a West African country. Raising other omissions in Iraq and Syria, Barack could find considerable criticism for his current Mideast policy. “We are not talking about a very large force, but I do think that the American appetite for involvement in yet another Muslim civil war in part of the world that is pretty remote from American concern is surprising,” said Campbell. Sending troops to Cameroon to combat Boko Haram should raise eyebrows about Barack’s reluctance to confront ISIS with boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria, allowing ISIS to run amok in the region.
