Nigeria said on Sunday it would welcome U.S. help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as its territorial integrity is respected, responding to threats of military action by President Donald Trump over what he said was the ill-treatment of Christians in the West African country. - REUTERS
00:01Nigeria said on Sunday it would welcome help from the United States in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as its territorial integrity is respected.
00:10That came in response to threats of military action by President Donald Trump over what he said was the ill-treatment of Christians in the West African country.
00:18Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people, is divided between the largely Muslim North and mostly Christian South.
00:26Islamist insurgents such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa province have wrought havoc in the country for more than 15 years.
00:36The groups have killed thousands of people, but their attacks have been largely confined to the northeast of the country, which is majority Muslim.
00:43Most of the victims of Boko Haram violence are Muslims.
00:47Malik Samuel is a senior researcher at Good Governance Africa in Abuja.
00:51It's not helpful to narrow this conflict, to narrow it down to religion.
01:00Some Christians in Kaduna said they would welcome U.S. support for their communities.
01:04But others made clear that they wanted U.S. help, not American decision-making.
01:09John Joseph Hayab is the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria for the northern part of the country.
01:14So, let it not, let's not be hypocritical in this matter. What some of us will not support is anybody deciding who should be our leader. It's purely a Nigerian thing.
01:23The militant groups move between neighboring countries Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
01:28And countering that movement could be one way the U.S. might make the region more secure.
01:32This is where Nigeria needs all the help it can get to manage its borders properly, to prevent movement of foreign fighters across borders.
01:40But again, to officiate this group by cutting their access to finances and resources.
01:47Some experts said the U.S. may require help from the Nigerian military, to which Trump threatened to cut off assistance.
01:53That task would be made more difficult given the U.S. withdrew its forces last year from Niger, which borders Nigeria in the north.
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