New York, May 16: The US has reportedly urged Nigerian authorities to resort to non-violent approach, when dealing with the Islamist terror group Boko Haram holding more than 200 school girls captive.
Human Rights Watch reportedly says that the Nigerian military has often times indulged in acts of violence such as burning homes and committing other abuses while fighting Boko Haram and its alleged supporters in the past.
According to the New York Times, a State Department inspector general’s report last year said that of 1,377 Nigerian soldiers vetted in 2012 to receive training, 211 were rejected or suspended because of human rights concerns.
Robert P. Jackson, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs says that Nigeria has been urged to reform its approach to Boko Haram.
He said that the state must demonstrate to its citizens that it can protect them and offer them opportunity, adding that when soldiers destroy towns, kill civilians and detain innocent people with impunity, mistrust takes root.
The administration officials say they have tried to persuade the Nigerian authorities to adopt a more holistic approach to fighting Boko Haram, which the State Department branded a terrorist organization last year, the report adds.
The US is reportedly bound by the Leahy Law that bans the country from providing training or equipment to foreign troops or units who commit “gross human rights violations” like rape, murder or torture.
Meanwhile, following a social media campaign urging the US to help free more than 260 schoolgirls abducted by the Boko Haram, the Obama administration has reportedly questioned the Nigerian military on whether it is capable of rescuing the girls.
While Obama’s administration was quick to extend support to Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan to deal with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, the US has not sent any troops yet because of the risks involved in launching a hunt in the vast large-scale rescue over a vast expanse.
The White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday that at this point, the nation is not actively considering the deployment of U.S. forces to participate in a combined rescue mission.
