Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham is quoted by USA Today on President Obama’s decision to send troops to Chad to help locate the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted last month by the terrorist organization Boko Haram:
Boko Haram, which seized the girls in an April 14 raid and has threatened to sell them into slavery, operates in territory that spans an arc from Niger to Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon, said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa program at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C.
Sending troops to neighboring Chad means Obama “skirts” Leahy Law issues, said Pham. “There is also a question about whether the Nigerian security forces are reliable or penetrated by people who are sympathizers or willing to use Boko Haram to score political points against the Nigerian government.”
The United States does not share raw intelligence with the Nigerians for that reason and because of concerns about the reliability of Nigeria’s command staff, Pham said.