U.S. and International Efforts to Counter Boko Haram
2:00 P.M. EST
THE WASHINGTON FOREIGN PRESS CENTER, WASHINGTON, D.C.
MODERATOR: Hello and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. Today we have Todd Chapman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, and Steven Feldstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. They are here to talk and deliver a trip report on their recent trip to Nigeria and Cameroon, and to discuss the intersection of security assistance and human rights. Without further ado, here is PDAS Chapman.
MR CHAPMAN: Okay. Well, good afternoon. And very nice to be with you today, and thank you very much for coming out. It’s a pleasure for me to be alongside my colleague, Steven Feldstein, and to talk a little bit about a recent trip that we took together to Nigeria. And then he went on to Cameroon, and we’ll get into that very shortly.
(Audio interference.) Woah.
MODERATOR: Sorry.
MR CHAPMAN: Okay, there we go.
But it was a great opportunity for us to go to Nigeria to together make the important point that our security assistance and security relationship that we have with countries is intricately linked with human rights issues that we look at very closely here at the State Department. And so in this trip to Nigeria, we had the opportunity to meet with a number of senior military officials from the Nigerian Government as well as representatives from the private sector and the civil society to talk about that linkage that we consider so very vital and important as we’re looking at how we build our security partnerships with our friends and allies.
So that was the genesis for the trip. For me personally, it was a significant opportunity to go back to Nigeria where I served from 1997 to ’99 with our embassy in both Lagos and then in Abuja. So a great time to get reacquainted with the vibrant society of Nigeria and to get to meet with some of the new leadership.
Let me just underscore that we are very – we look forward to with great promise the administration of President Buhari. He had a very successful visit here in July to meet with President Obama. There have been a number of visits since then between our two governments, and this was just another one of an ongoing series of engagement that we are having with the Nigerian Government.
So those were – that was the genesis for this meeting – for this trip, excuse me. So I’m going to turn it over to my colleague, Steven, and he’ll give a few remarks, and then we’ll be very happy to take whatever questions you might have. Steven.
MR FELDSTEIN: Great. Thanks, Todd. I would reiterate very strongly what my colleague said. We undertook this trip at the end of October, so just barely two weeks ago. And really what this represented was an important semblance of a bringing together both a bureau that focuses on the security assistance side of the house and my bureau, which really looks at democracy and human rights issues.
As Todd mentioned, we are very supportive and really want to find a way to constructively engage with the new regime of President Buhari. A lot of the rhetoric of what the regime and what the president has said when it comes about the importance of linking human rights protection, civilian protection, with the fight against Boko Haram and other elements is something that we view as essential pillars and cornerstones to how – behind the approach that we think is important in this area. And so for us to be able to have these important conversations with our military counterparts but also with civil society groups, with human rights activists, with different – other government counterparts, and really talk through what we think are important areas in which to make sure the right protections are in place, and really talk about how ultimately military success is more than just defeating on the ground Boko Haram elements, but actually coming up with a comprehensive way to think about rebuilding in areas and communities that have been devastated by war, violence, and conflict, was really a key part of what we want to emphasize and a key message for us that we wanted to discuss with our counterparts.
It was a really, I think, useful and important trip at a critical moment right now for Nigeria, and we’d be happy to take further questions on our visit.
QUESTION: I have one.
MODERATOR: Yes. Please state your name and publication for the transcript.
QUESTION: Okay, sure. My name is Aliyu Mustapha with the Voice of America [Hausa Service]. Considering that more than a thousand people have been killed since Buhari took over back in May and the deadline that he set for December to end Boko Haram, do you think that’s achievable? That’s one. Two, one of the issues that was prevalent in the last administration in Nigeria was serious corruption within the Nigerian military. So let’s start with the first question. Do you think it’s achievable for Buhari to end Boko Haram? And what do you understand by ending Boko Haram, from what he said?
MR CHAPMAN: Sure. I’ll be happy to take that, Aliyu. First of all, I see from your card that you’re from the Hausa, managing editor for Hausa. And I have wonderful memories of going up to Kano and participating in the Durbar up in Kano.
QUESTION: Oh, you did? Okay.
MR CHAPMAN: And at the time I actually had a few words with Hausa, but I can’t remember them now. But very glad to see that you’re transmitting our messages into Hausa. So greetings to all those Hausa speakers in northern Nigeria and elsewhere.
Concerning the fight against Boko Haram, of course we are working very closely in support of our friends and neighbors there, our friends and government there who are working so diligently to counter Boko Haram. We have had some security assistance programs that have been very active. We just completed some training through our Global Security Contingency Fund, which is a $40 million effort to help counter Boko Haram. We’ve also provided – the Obama Administration authorized the use of presidential drawdown authority to provide another $45 million in support to the countries fighting Boko Haram. And this is all on top of an additional $50 million that we had already provided to the region to help with equipment training and logistics systems. So we are committed to supporting the governments that are fighting this terrorist organization, this Boko Haram counterinsurgency. So it’s very important that we continue to work with Nigeria and others to help combat Boko Haram.
President Buhari has set ambitious goals for himself. I’ll leave it up to others to determine whether or not those goals can be met, but we are committed to supporting them as they counter the threat. We heard many stories while we were there of some of the horrors that are being perpetrated in the northeast and elsewhere in Nigeria. And clearly, this government, the Buhari administration is committed very strongly to doing all that they can to defeat Boko Haram. And the things that we heard from civil society representatives, just from people who we met, their utter rejection of the activities and the ideology that Boko Haram is trying to advance in Nigeria.
MR FELDSTEIN: Yeah. No, I would only add to that that I think we were both very impressed by the seriousness, the thoughtfulness of the different interlocutors that we spoke to. I think they’re approaching this fight in several different phases. And – but they are very cognizant of the challenges that are in place. What we heard was very serious conversations about the impending fight, both – over the next few months – but also the longer-term rebuilding that will be needed. Because what I thought was important is that it isn’t something where you defeat on the battlefield Boko Haram and then you’re done. What we did talk about was about how do you actually build in resilience in communities. How do you build in place a perspective so that Boko Haram is unable to return, and that the conditions that allowed for the rise of Boko Haram in the first place are really tackled at their levels? And I think to that end, there is a lot of thought being given by our Nigerian partners about what that means in a more comprehensive way.
QUESTION: Oh. I have a question.
MODERATOR: Sure.
QUESTION: Phoenix TV– Youyou Wang from Phoenix TV, [Hong Kong]. You just mention you have – you’re trying with the local government and NGOs to do some rebuilding programs in the local community. Can you elaborate more, like, the specific programs you’re working on?
MR FELDSTEIN: Yeah. Well, why don’t I talk a little more about approaches, and then we can refer you to other people who can give you the more specifics on some of the programmatic elements, especially my colleagues at USAID, our counterpart agency, who is doing a large amount of thinking when it comes to longer-term programs? But one of the things that we’re trying to really do is we’re trying to focus and work with local partners on a variety of issues that directly get to the core of how to rebuild and how to also make sure that communities are protected.
So let me give you an example of something that we’re doing. We have in place an early warning, I guess, protection program that really works with communities on the front lines of the threat, those who are most vulnerable, and works to provide them with the means to communicate very quickly when they see an impending threat from Boko Haram coming forward. There’s a particular emphasis on this program on sex- and gender-based violence because so much of that, so much of the brunt of the atrocities committed by Boko Haram, have focused on women and girls.
And so these are the type of preventative programs on the ground in communities, in the northeast in particular, that we think can be a vital part of a response to and a way to protect those who need it the most. But in addition to that, I know USAID and many of our other colleagues are actively working and thinking through with Nigerian counterparts, with local governments and so forth, what are the elements needed to make sure that communities can rebuild? And I’m sure they can give you more specific details on that.
MR CHAPMAN: Just a few months ago – and I don’t have the exact time – USAID signed a over $2 billion five-year plan together with this administration, with the Buhari administration, to provide a broad range of assistance and support to economic development, security, and all these issues that are so important to both of us. So I’ll encourage you to go onto our website and get that information. And I’m sure that USAID, whether out of Nigeria or here in Washington, would be happy to give you more information about some of the programmatic responses that we intend to implement in the coming years.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MODERATOR: Do we have additional questions?
QUESTION: Yes.
MODERATOR: Please go ahead.
QUESTION: You sent some military officials to Cameroon recently to fight Boko Haram. Why not Nigeria? Why didn’t – why weren’t they sent to Nigeria? I think also some in Niger, I believe. What was the wisdom behind sending them to the Cameroon instead of the theater (inaudible)?
MR CHAPMAN: Yeah. We have a broad range of assistance programs and cooperation with all four countries in the Lake Chad Basin region, and how we work with each of those militaries and governments depends on the bilateral relationship, depends upon the requests that we receive. And so we are in the process of working with each of these governments to provide the support to help them counter Boko Haram. And so we are involved in active discussions with the entire region to talk about these kinds of issues. But I can assure that based on our experience recently, the channels of communication are wide open in terms of what we are looking to be able to do together with the Nigerians to help counter Boko Haram. So the relationship is good. We’re looking forward, we’re looking at training, we’re looking at equipment, we’re looking at a whole range of issues whereby the U.S. and the U.S. military and the U.S. Government can be helpful to the Nigerian Government as they take on this threat.
MODERATOR: Are there any further questions? If there are no further questions, this event is now concluded. Did you have one, or no? Okay. The event is now concluded.
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