United States debates withdrawing military resources from Nigeria

BY NORAH TAFURI ’25 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article mentions sexual violence and human trafficking.

On Feb. 7, 2023, the National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation into Nigeria’s counterinsurgency efforts. The NHRC was compelled, in part, by the investigative efforts of Reuters. In a Dec. 7, 2022, article, Reuters noted that the war in Nigeria has come with enormous consequences to women because of instances of them being abducted and condemned to sexual slavery by the militant organization Boko Haram. The Nigerian military continues to perpetuate this harm on the survivors of assault by forcing abortions on the women who might carry the unborn children of Boko Haram soldiers.

Their investigation revealed an “illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast, [ended] at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls.” While the NHRC panel itself can offer no punitive measures, those who are deemed responsible can be recommended for prosecution. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, the insurgency of Boko Haram in Nigeria began in

2011. CFR explained that the group was created in Maiduguri in 2002 by Mohamed Yusof, an Islamic cleric from the Borno state. The group aims to “establish a fundamentalist Islamic state with sharia criminal courts” and is an offshoot of the Salafi movement, a branch of Sunni Islam.

The creation of Boko Haram is suspected to be due to deep social divides between the Muslim-majority north and a Christian-majority south, a discord resulting from British imperialism. Chris Ngwodo, a political writer, explains in his blog, Revolution by Other Means, that “Boko Haram is the consequence incarnate of misrule by delinquent political elites. It is a creature of state failure demonstrating the decline of our institutions in all its unvarnished ugliness.” He continued: “Without the skills necessary to access opportunities in the current socio-economic equation, the people are left with nothing but their religion as their sole resource and are thus vulnerable to all the monstrous mutations of faith that are liable to manifest in a climate of ignorance, corruption and economic inequality.”

In a 2002 publication of Human Rights Quarterly, writer Obiora Chinedu Okafor explained that the Nigerian National Human Rights

Commission was created during the regime of General Sani Abacha. Okafor writes that an observer noted that “The [Nigerian] NHRC came amidst skepticism and cynicism that the Commission was a mere propaganda tool in the hands of a junta seeking international relevance.”

Despite this initial fear, the NHRC has the potential to become a powerful institution in Nigeria, Okafor stated.

Okafor writes that the NHRC has the ability to “promote and protect human rights, receive and investigate complaints, monitor the human rights situation in the country, provide policy and other advice to the government, conduct research and studies, mount seminars and other events and assist victims of violations.” However, the committee falls short on certain essential tools needed to reinforce its authority. As assessed by Okafor, the committee cannot compel individuals to attend hearings, produce relevant documents, sue regular courts to enforce its decisions, render binding decisions or visit prisons at any time. In spite of this, Okafur maintains that the NHRC still remains a mechanism to bring a sense of justice to the victims who were harmed.

Furthermore, in recognition of these allegations, the United States

Congress is considering halting the 1 billion dollar weapons deal that was arranged last April. Politics and International Relations Professor Andrew Reiter of Mount Holyoke College said that “military support for Nigeria has always been a challenge for the United States.

[The U.S.] is aware of the Nigerian military’s human rights abuses and sometimes delays funding packages or puts conditions on them, such as requiring training in international humanitarian law,” he explained. “At the same time, the U.S. feels that it needs to continue to combat the rise of Islamist extremists in the region for its own national security and so will continue to provide some level of lethal aid, even if it has had a minimal effect so far,” he concluded.

In 2011, the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Committee of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommended an “increase [of] U.S. Government Support for Nigerian Counterterrorism and Intelligence Programs” in a committee report, saying, “the U.S. Government should increase its support for programs that enhance the ability of Nigerian security forces to more effectively target Boko Haram and counter its evolution.”

China and Taiwan relations create tension between China and the US

BY KIERA MCLAUGHLIN ’26 STAFF WRITER

Last week, tensions rose in Taiwan when six Chinese delegates visited for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, The Guardian reported. This has prompted partisan disagreements in Taiwan due to Beijing’s recent restatement of its position against Taiwanese independence. According to The Guardian, pro-independence supporters protested the Chinese delegates’ arrival outside the airport, yelling “Taiwan and China, separate countries” and “Chinese people, get out.” This protest was contrasted by a group of demonstrators in support of the visit, waiting at the airport to welcome the delegates.

Taiwan’s independence has been based on a history that is controversial because of the differing Chinese and Taiwanese interpretations. The BBC News reported on this history, placing original Chinese control of Taiwan in the 17th Century under the Qing dynasty. Then after losing the first Sino-Japanese war in 1895, China handed the island over to Japan. Only fifty years later, China took Taiwan back after Japan lost World War Two in 1945, but this led to a civil war on mainland China between the nationalist government and the Communist Party, according to BBC News.

While China argues that this history supports their claim against Taiwan’s independence, the Taiwanese use the same historical evidence to argue that Taiwan was never a part of modern China, which was originally formed in 1911 after the revolution, or the communist regime in 1949 that established the current People’s Republic of China, BBC News reported.

The Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council approved of the recent three-day visit as long as it was kept “low-key and without public political statements”, The Guardian reported. According to United Press International, the visiting delegation claimed that they wanted the visit to establish “healthy” conversation with each side and “increase goodwill and further mutual understanding.”

However, this sentiment was not shared by Democratic Progressive

Party representatives or the pro-independence public. In an interview with Reuters, Chilly Chen, the head of the pro-independence Taiwan Republic Office, said that “the Taiwanese people were very hospitable and welcomed visitors but were concerned [that the delegates] were coming to push Chinese policies on the democratic island.”

According to the Financial Times, the lack of communication between the two states originated when China cut all relations with Taiwan after President Tsai-IngWen, a member of the pro-independent Democratic Progressive Party, won office in 2016. Since then, China has threatened Taiwanese independence by promising to invade if

Taiwan does not eventually comply. The People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese military force, has since increased its presence around Taiwan. Taiwan’s own military identified 24 Chinese military aircrafts near the island on Feb. 18, which was the most they had detected since Feb. 1, according to the Financial Times.

According to The Guardian, on Feb. 18 China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, assured the audience at the Munich Security Conference that “Taiwan is part of Chinese territory” and that “it has never been a country and it will not be a country in the future.” Soon after, Taipei Times reported that The Mainland Affairs Council came out in opposition of Wang Yi’s claims about Taiwan’s dependence on China. The council, using Taiwan’s official name, stated that “the Republic of China is a sovereign nation that has never been and never will be a part of the People’s Republic of China.”

According to the Taipei Times, there are also complexities to the United States’ involvement in Taiwanese and Chinese relations. Taipei Times reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had an informal meeting with Wang Yi. Blinken restated that President Biden will defend the shared principles and interests of the U.S. and Taiwan, but does not want any disputes with China and encourages both countries to have “effective communication channels.”

Only a few days later, China criticized Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Michael Chase for visiting Taiwan. Spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said Beijing “resolutely opposes interaction and military collaboration” between the U.S. and Taiwan, PBS reported. According to The Hill, a Pentagon spokesperson said that the “U.S. commitment to Taiwan is ‘rock-solid’ and that it helps to maintain peace and stability in the region,” without directly addressing Chase’s visit to Taiwan.

In response, Wang Wenbin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said “we urge the U.S. to […] stop any form of official U.S.-Taiwan contacts, stop meddling in the Taiwan issue and stop creating new factors of tension in the Taiwan Strait,” an article from The Hill reported.

Along with formally advising the U.S. on what to do regarding Taiwan, PBS reported that China has claimed to have a “no limits” relationship with Russia. China is continuing to blame the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for “provoking the Kremlin.” China has also disagreed with sanctions on Russia, which has led to Russia actively supporting China over Taiwan, PBS explained.

This situation has not only caused tense relations between China and Taiwan but between China and the United States, due to the vague promise by the U.S. to protect Taiwan due to their shared values. China has created an atmosphere around Taiwan’s independence that has forced the country into isolation. According to PBS, because of this, Taiwan has only 14 formal allies, yet many unofficial supporters.