Nigeria: Buhari in the United States
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will meet his American counterpart Donald Trump on Monday. He will become the first African leader to be received by the Trump administration at the White House.
The exchanges between the two heads of state will focus on “the fight against terrorism” and “economic development in Nigeria” according to the White House. Nigeria enters its 9th year of struggle against the jihadist group Boko Haram. The conflict has left more than 20,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, including in neighboring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Mr. Buhari also faces a resurgence of a recurring agro-pastoral conflict between farmers and herders, against the backdrop of ethnic and religious divisions.
Shortly after taking office in 2015, the Nigerian head of state blamed President Barack Obama for refusing to sell arms to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.
But the Trump administration has changed position by allowing the sale in Abuja of $496 million worth of Super Tucano aircraft, surveillance and tactical support aircraft, to be delivered by 2020.
