The first wave of United States military personnel has arrived in Nigeria, marking the beginning of a deployment of approximately 200 American intelligence analysts, advisers and trainers to assist the country’s armed forces in targeted counterterrorism operations aimed in part at protecting Nigerian Christians, officials from both countries confirmed on Friday.
A U.S. military plane landed in the northeastern city of Maiduguri on Thursday night, according to Nigerian officials. Officials from both countries confirmed that the first tranche of roughly 100 American troops will steadily arrive over the weekend. On Friday evening, three planes could be seen at the base, with equipment being offloaded from one.
These initial flights are the vanguard of what will be a stream of C-17 transport flights into three main locations across Nigeria, according to a U.S. Defense Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. Several additional aircraft carrying troops and equipment are expected to land this weekend, with the flow continuing over the next couple of weeks, the Defense Department official said.
Maj. Gen. Samaila Uba, a Nigerian defense spokesman, said the arriving U.S. troops would focus exclusively on training and technical matters.
