US president says he could deploy troops to Nigeria or carry out air strikes to stop alleged mass killings of Christians.
Nigeria has said it would welcome assistance from the United States in fighting armed groups, as long as its territorial integrity is respected, as US President Donald Trump continued to threaten military action in the West African country over what he claimed was the persecution of Christians there.
Officials and experts in Nigeria on Sunday denied Trump’s claims of mass killings of Christians, noting that Boko Haram and al-Qaeda-linked groups target people of all faiths in Africa’s most populous country.
But Trump – who has directed his government to prepare for possible “fast” military action in Africa’s most populous country – doubled down on the threat on Sunday, saying he was he was considering a range of military options in Nigeria,
When asked by a reporter if he was considering US troops on the ground in Nigeria or air strikes, Trump replied: “Could be, I mean, a lot of things – I envisage a lot of things.”
“They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen,” he added.
Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people, is divided between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south. Armed groups have been engaged in a conflict that has been largely confined to the northeast of the country, which is majority Muslim, and has dragged on for more than 15 years.
Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday, denied Trump’s claims of mass killings of Christians.
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