{"id":59820,"date":"2022-09-16T17:57:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T17:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=59820"},"modified":"2022-09-16T17:57:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T17:57:42","slug":"uk-publication-unveils-secret-reports-on-nigerian-armed-forces-by-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=59820","title":{"rendered":"UK publication unveils secret reports on Nigerian armed forces by officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018GHOST SOLDIERS\u2019 \u2013 BRITAIN\u2019S SHADOW WAR IN WEST AFRICA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secret documents show the UK government knows Nigerian troops commit atrocities but Whitehall continues military aid to secure arms deals and oil supplies.<\/p>\n

By PHIL MILLER<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 UK-backed Nigerian army suffers from \u201cendemic corruption\u201d with \u201cthousands of \u2018ghost\u2019 soldiers\u201d supposedly fighting terrorism but who \u201cexist only on paper\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2022 More than a dozen \u201cUK interest detainees\u201d are held by Nigerian counter-terrorism authorities in prison conditions \u201cfar below minimum international standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

British government officials believe there is \u201cchronic corruption\u201d among Nigeria\u2019s security forces and that many of the human rights accusations against them are \u201ctrue\u201d. But they want UK military assistance to continue as the country represents a \u201cpotentially huge market\u201d for arms sales.<\/p>\n

That is Whitehall\u2019s view of its key west African counter-terrorism ally, laid bare in a cache of secret UK documents obtained by\u00a0Declassified. The papers were written last year, just months after Nigerian soldiers massacred 11 protesters in the port city of Lagos in 2020.<\/p>\n

They show London was fully aware of the regime\u2019s abusive nature but planned to continue offering \u201chigh risk\u201d support to its armed forces, judging that \u201cthere would likely be minimal reporting from domestic media\u201d in Britain.<\/p>\n

UK diplomats assess that Nigeria\u2019s counter-terrorism campaign has been hollowed out by fraud and low morale.<\/p>\n

Ministers were briefed that licences to export arms from the UK should be granted in a faster and more \u201cflexible\u201d fashion. In addition, diplomats were \u201cworking hard\u201d to overcome \u201can inaccurate perception that the UK is not willing to sell [weapons] to Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n

The calculations were made in the context of Nigeria being the \u201cthird biggest supplier of oil to the UK\u201d and having a \u201clong history\u201d of cooperation on counter-terrorism.<\/p>\n

War on terror<\/p>\n

British troops are stationed in the west African former colony to help battle Boko Haram, a Taliban-type insurgent group notorious for kidnapping school girls. But in an echo of the West\u2019s failure to build an Afghan army, UK diplomats assess that Nigeria\u2019s counter-terrorism campaign has been hollowed out by fraud and low morale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nigerian Army claim there are 20,000 troops deployed in the North East,\u201d a UK official wrote in reference to Boko Haram\u2019s geographical stronghold. \u201cHowever, the number is highly likely to be significantly less due to corruption\u201d and desertion, anticipating \u201cthousands of \u2018ghost\u2019 soldiers for whom the cash wages and living allowances are withdrawn, but exist only on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitehall worried their ally was actually making matters worse, stating bluntly: \u201cNigerian police and military suffer from chronic corruption, severe overstretch and under-resourcing, with the typical security force response consistently heavy-handed; increasing distrust, resentment and fueling tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these concerns over human rights abuses and corruption, the UK offered to lend Nigeria \u00a31.5 billion to buy British weaponry.<\/p>\n

Detention sites<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s forgotten corner of the \u2018war on terror\u2019 has seen thousands of suspects arrested and held by its army and intelligence agencies \u2013 often in brutal conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross the detentions landscape the UK assesses that conditions and due process fall far below minimum international standards,\u201d British files show, with concern about \u201ccruel, inhumane and degrading treatment in military centres\u201d.<\/p>\n

A UK official wrote: \u201cNigerian Armed Forces have allegedly committed multiple human rights abuses on suspected terrorists and civilians, including in direct conflict settings, detention centres and internally displaced people\u2019s camps, which have deepened grievances towards the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, diplomats were \u201clobbying and monitoring on 27 (non-disclosed) UK interest detainees\u201d, described as being of \u201cmutual interest\u201d to both countries. It is not clear from the documents if they are British nationals.<\/p>\n

Twelve of the prisoners were being held in the capital Abuja at a site where the UK wanted conditions to improve \u201curgently\u201d, planning to raise it with the Nigerian president\u2019s chief of staff. The site is in the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS), a Nigerian intelligence agency, located 500 metres from the parliament building.<\/p>\n

A few months after the documents were written, a British citizen, Nnamdi Kanu, was forcibly taken from Kenya to Nigeria and\u00a0detained\u00a0by the DSS in Abuja. Kanu leads a separatist group which seeks independence for Biafra in south east Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Shirin Marker, a lawyer representing the Kanu family at the London-based solicitors firm,\u00a0Bindmans LLP, said: \u201cThese documents show Britain was already well aware of the awful detention conditions at the DSS headquarters shortly before Mr Kanu was imprisoned there. We\u2019ve raised his case repeatedly with the Foreign Office and they have accepted that aspects of his detention do amount to torture.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Kanu is held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and has restricted access to his Nigerian legal team and appropriate medical treatment. By law, Mr Kanu should be be held at a correctional facility \u2013 not the DSS headquarters, which is essentially the intelligence services office of Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n

The files indicated that \u201cmilitant activity\u201d by Kanu\u2019s group is increasing and that \u201cpolarisation has sharpened\u201d within Nigeria. British officials said privately that the Nigerian government\u2019s response to ethnic conflict \u201chas been poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

An official commented: \u201cBombing forests, the favoured hide-outs of bandits, is costly, displaces communities and heightens grievances; paying off bandits is ineffective and likely to incentivise further acts of criminality; whilst endemic corruption in the military has drained a relatively large budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson from the Nigerian High Commission in London told\u00a0Declassified: \u201cThe British Army is working very closely with the Nigerian Army and is physically present in Nigeria and they have never indicated any concern. All the allegations are completely false.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reputational risk<\/strong><\/p>\n

The files we have seen were drawn up as briefing notes ahead of a visit by armed forces minister James Heappey to west Africa in March 2021. His trip took place six months after Nigerian troops had opened fire on protesters from the End SARS movement, which campaigned against brutality by the police\u2019s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).<\/p>\n

The shooting triggered a secret review of Whitehall\u2019s Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) to Nigeria. Officials wanted a one month freeze on training of Nigeria\u2019s military in the UK \u2013 with the exception of nine students already here \u2013 while the review was carried out.<\/p>\n

The review \u201cdetermined that continued human rights abuses by the Nigerian Armed Forces have led to some increased risk to reputation to the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n

They found that six out of ten OSJA projects in Nigeria were \u201cgraded as high risk\u2026meaning there is a serious risk that the assistance might directly or significantly contribute to a violation of human rights, or a serious risk of reputational damage from this activity, and these risks cannot be effectively mitigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet British engagement with Nigeria\u2019s military was recommended to continue, albeit with a stronger focus on \u201creform\u201d and ministerial sign off.<\/p>\n

A \u201cpriority\u201d for the reviewers was to resume military training by mid-December 2020, less than two months after the massacre in Lagos, \u201cto allow two Nigerian Army officers to attend Sandhurst, and to avoid the reputational damage of a cancellation of their places.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the review was taking place,\u00a0Declassified\u00a0exposed\u00a0that Nigerian air force pilots were training at a commercially run helicopter academy in Cornwall. The Ministry of Defence claimed to be unaware the course was taking place.<\/p>\n

The files show British officials believed Nigeria\u2019s air force was itself guilty of human rights abuses, including the accidental bombing of a refugee camp in 2017 which killed 115 civilians.<\/p>\n

Boots on the ground<\/strong><\/p>\n

As well as training Nigerian units in the UK, British troops are stationed in remote parts of west Africa to advise on counter-terrorism operations. The files say \u201cthe UK retains the largest enduring western military footprint in Nigeria and the LCB [Lake Chad Basin]\u201d, a region rife with Boko Haram.<\/p>\n

A Liaison Support Team of around a dozen British soldiers was \u201csituated in a high threat area\u201d of north east Nigeria last year where terrorist groups \u201cenjoy freedom of manoeuvre\u201d and there is no \u201cassured method of extraction\u201d in the event of casualties.<\/p>\n

The UK was particularly keen to \u201cenhance and further develop\u201d the \u201ctactical, operational and strategic capability\u201d of Nigeria\u2019s special forces, with pre-deployment training of elite units before they enter Boko Haram hot spots.<\/p>\n

Declassified\u00a0has previously\u00a0revealed\u00a0the UK military operates a similar scheme in neighbouring Cameroon \u2013 a dictatorship\u2013 where it coaches the notorious\u00a0Bataillon d\u2019Intervention Rapide\u00a0(BIR) and has spent half a million pounds\u00a0building\u00a0two secretive training\u00a0sites.q<\/p>\n

In Nigeria, UK officials note: \u201cOur engagement is not risk free and the shadow of human rights violations is always present\u2026Allegations of human rights violations and wide-spread corruption frequently emerge from NGOs and civil society which weighs heavily on HMG [Britain\u2019s] willingness to engage in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

They add: \u201cCoupled with endemic corruption, poor government investment in critical infrastructure, poor health and human development indicators, and an overall sharp decrease in stability, the outlook is bleak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since British officials wrote the highly-critical documents, UK support for the west African nation has actually deepened. In February, the UK\u00a0announced\u00a0a new \u201csecurity and defence partnership\u201d to advise Nigeria\u2019s police.<\/p>\n

More recently, the Nigerian government claims to have won a major battle against Boko Haram,\u00a0killing\u00a0five of the group\u2019s leaders and accepting the\u00a0surrender\u00a0of thousands more rank and file members.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Ministry of Defence was asked to comment.<\/p>\n

Source: Declassified UK (www.declassifieduk.org)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018GHOST SOLDIERS\u2019 \u2013 BRITAIN\u2019S SHADOW WAR IN WEST AFRICA Secret documents show the UK government knows Nigerian troops commit atrocities but Whitehall continues military aid to secure arms deals and oil supplies. By PHIL MILLER \u2022 UK-backed Nigerian army suffers from \u201cendemic corruption\u201d with \u201cthousands of \u2018ghost\u2019 soldiers\u201d supposedly fighting terrorism but who \u201cexist only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":59821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5113,5114,249],"class_list":["post-59820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-diplomats","tag-ghost","tag-nigeria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}