Cape Town — President Umaru Yar'Adua reiterated in South Africa Tuesday that he had asked the United States to give military assistance to groupings of African nations, but that he had "never... even discussed the possibility" of Nigeria hosting the new U.S. Africa Command (Africom).
Responding to a question at a news conference in Cape Town, Yar'Adua said Nigeria's position on Africom had been subject to "a lot of misinformation... [and] confusion" since he met President George W. Bush in Washington DC last December.
He said he had asked Bush to help the African Union establish its planned "Africa Standby Force" (ASF), to be used for peacekeeping, and to assist West African nations to set up a "Gulf of Guinea Guard Force" to secure their maritime security.
He had asked for training, equipment and logistics, he said. Now that the U.S. had established a separate military command for Africa, military aid would come through that command, but there was no question of Nigeria hosting it.
"People need to realise, the Africa Command is not to do with African nations agreeing to anything," Yar'Adua said. "It is a defense policy of the Defense Department of the United States."
