Pramila Jayapal, a member of the United States House of Representatives, has tackled President Donald Trump’s approach to addressing allegations of Christian genocide in Nigeria.
Trump recently re-designated Nigeria a “country of
particular concern” and threatened that the US military would go into the
country “guns-a-blazing to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are
committing these horrible atrocities”.
Speaking at a US congressional hearing on the matter in
Washington DC on Thursday, Jayapal said the portrayal of a Christian
persecution in Nigeria felt “simplistic” and does not account for the country’s
“intersectional diversity”.
“Certainly, religion is a contributing factor to the
violence, but a review by the Search for Common Ground found that in Nigeria’s
Middle Belt region, religion was not a primary driver of conflict,” she said.
“Instead, violence has been directed against both Christians
and Muslims, regardless of religion, at the hands of armed terror groups like
Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa, or fuelled by differences in lifestyle between
farmer and herder groups compounded by climate change and governance issues.
“And so, I want to start by saying I’m very concerned that a
day after President Trump saw a clip on Fox News about the persecution of
Christians in Nigeria, he threatened to go ‘guns-a-blazing’ in Nigeria and
revoke all assistance.
“Can you tell me under what authority would the US military
strike inside of Nigeria?” Jayapal asked Jonathan Pratt, a senior official at
the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs, who was a witness on the
panel.
Pratt had earlier noted that Marco Rubio, secretary of
state, had directed that the department work on an action plan alongside the
Nigerian government to tackle the issue.
“The secretary of state has directed us to put together a
comprehensive plan that uses all tools at our disposal, including security and
the Department of War, and this would be primarily focused on the security that
we are providing to the government of Nigeria and how they are deploying their
assets,” Pratt replied the congresswoman.
“We can also share information and intelligence.
We can
talk about counterterrorism. And so those are the tools that we are primarily
looking at in our strategy.”
Jayapal then pressed Pratt on why those tools were not the
first line of action, and he said the state department had been working to
tackle insecurity in Nigeria for a long time.
She noted that the revision of tactics was to ensure that
the best outcomes were derived.
“I just wish we would actually stick to that playbook rather
than a bully and threaten of a country that is extremely important to us and to
the region,” Jayapal said.
“I don’t think that’s the right way to go, to just go on
Truth Social and threaten ‘guns-a-blazing’. I think what you’ve described is
much more appropriate.”
During the hearing, Sara Jacobs, a congresswoman, said
Trump’s threat to deploy military action in Nigeria was reckless.
Jacobs said the congress had not authorised force, and that
any action without Nigeria’s consent violates international law.
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