Troops deployment in Somalia: Why Jonathan revoked Yar’Adua’s plan

Posted by admin Goodluck Jonathan (2010-present), Latest Politics, Presidency, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (2007-10) Friday, August 12th, 2011

Indications have emerged that the prospect of Nigeria’s deployment of troops in war-ravaged Somalia is very slim. This is contrary to an earlier promise by the government to do so in 2007.

SATURDAY PUNCH investigations showed that the Federal Government might have taken a second look at the arrangement made by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua because of the implications of such a deployment on Nigeria.

The FG had promised in January, 2007 to send a battalion of Nigerian soldiers numbering between 850 and 1,100 for peace support operations.

A military source said that while a battalion was supposed to be 850 soldiers, the number could be more during the deployment of troops outside the country for peace support operations.

The Chairman of the African Union Commission, Mr. Jean Ping, was quoted to have told reporters that the late President Yar’ Adua assured him on the willingness of the country to deploy the troops, which he said were already being equipped at the time.

“The President of Nigeria has confirmed to me personally that one Nigerian battalion will be sent to Somalia in a short time.

“He told me that the troops were equipped and ready, which made me to believe they would be sent in January,” Ping reportedly said at a meeting of regional foreign ministers.

A military source however confided in our correspondent on Friday that while the FG was committed to peacekeeping operations in the continent, the recent policy of the government did not favour the deployment of troops in Somalia, which has been described to be very hostile.

The source said that Nigeria suffered heavy casualties when her troops were ambushed and killed by renegade Somali fighters between 1993 and 1994.

He said, “You know that Nigeria has suffered heavy losses in Somalia when our troops were sent there for humanitarian reasons in the 1990s.

“Nigerian troops and those of other contributing nations were ambushed and killed in Somalia, a terrain that wasn’t familiar to them.

“Another thing you must note is that the people are very hostile. These are Islamic fundamentalists, who are very difficult to understand; they plan suicide attacks against people sent to their country to intervene in the crisis.

“Why send troops to such an area. By the way, what does this country stand to benefit from such an investment?”

When our correspondent contacted highly-placed people in strategic positions in the military on why the arrangement to send troops to Somalia had been put on hold, they said they were not in a position to speak on the issue.

The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Raphael Isah, refused to comment on the issue and directed our correspondent to the Defence Headquarters for the information being sought.

But the Director of Defence Information, Col. Mohammed Yerima, said that troop deployment was a government affair and not the sole affair of the Defence Headquarters.

He said troop deployment anywhere in the country could be approved only by the President through the Minister of Defence, and through the Chief of Defence Staff.

“If the government says troops should go anywhere, is it not our responsibility to obey the directive? Is a soldier’s job not to be deployed? If you are deployed, who are we to say no? This is a high matter, it is a government issue,” he said

President Goodluck Jonathan had sharply condemned the avoidable waste of Nigerian troops in countries where they were sent on peacekeeping operations in a seminar organised by the Ministry of Defence in Abuja on August 2, 2010.

The President warned at the seminar entitled, ‘National Foreign Policy Objectives through Peace Support Operation,’ that his government would not supervise the killing of Nigerian soldiers by bandits in possession of small arms, even as he gave the conditions for the nation’s participation in UN-organised peace support operations.

The President was unhappy about the high casualty figure of 2,000 deaths recorded by the country, in addition to the over $10bn spent on peacekeeping operations in the past 50 years.

“Probably the UN needs to engage in peace operations through diplomacy with these countries that manufacture arms and ammunition and freely give them out to countries to fight against themselves.

“In Africa, we know that one of our greatest problems is the dumping of small arms and weapons by industrialised countries. This has encouraged a lot of criminal activities and militia groups because people have free access to these arms and ammunition. This is becoming the main source of underdevelopment in Africa.

“But for us in Nigeria, I have to clearly inform the Chief of Defence Staff that as the President of Nigeria, I wouldn’t want to lose one soldier carelessly.

“For that reason, the UN needs to change the rules of engagement if Nigerian soldiers must be involved in peace support operations.

“In a situation where militia groups will ambush law-abiding international teams that go to their countries to ensure that they live in peace because they want to exhibit unnecessary gallantry or bravado and kill them carelessly is totally unacceptable.

“And I wouldn’t want to hear that we lose soldiers through that means, I know the job is risky but it is not meant to be suicide for Nigeria; we will take that one very seriously,” the President had said.

-Punchwp_posts