Military approach alone can’t win B’Haram war – US

United States on Wednesday reiterated that
only military operation would not help Nigeria
to overcome the challenges of terrorism,
without integrated economic development.
The country said Nigeria and West African
nations in general needed economic
development, improvement in governance,
promotion of rule of law and the political will
to enforce the law, to overcome the security
problem.
The US Africa Commander, Gen. David
Rodriguez, and the Assistant Secretary of State
for African Affairs, Ambassador Linda Thomas,
said this during a US Department of State live
web-chat monitored at the US Embassy in
Abuja.
The duo also said corruption and terrorism
would continue to hold the Africa continent
back if not confronted.
Linda said the US was concerned about the
impact of Boko Haram in Nigeria and outside
its border.
"We have had a number of discussions with
the government of Nigeria on how to address
this issue in terms of addressing the broad
development and also on how the government
response to the threat.
"Our suggestions to the government is that
they need a broad perspective. It is not all
about security. They do have to think about
the impact of their operations on civilians.
Hopefully as they go after Boko Haram, they
will go into partnership with the civilian
community," she added.