By Abudullahi Yaro
Nigeria’s Defense Minister, Gen. Christopher Musa, recently expressed his frustrations with what he called the ‘’double standards’’ of some countries that won’t sell their military arms to Nigeria because of human rights concerns. ‘’Even with our money, it is difficult getting equipment,’’ Musa told the press.
‘’Some say human rights, … but again, sometimes, people pointing fingers at you have done worse and yet nobody is holding them to account. It is these double standards that are making the world more dangerous,’’ Musa affirmed.
Nigeria’s security forces for many years have faced allegations of extrajudicial killings and illegal arrest as they battle insurgency in north east to dozens of armed groups targeting travelers and communities across the country. The United States and other major arms suppliers at some points have withheld the sale of weapons over those accusations. The US Congress in 2023 sought to halt a nearly $1 billion arms sale to the country following Reuters reports on alleged illegal abortion program and the targeted killing of children allegedly carried out by the Nigerian military.
The minister told Al-Jazeera channel in an interview that the country lacks weapons to fight armed groups because 99 percent of defense exports go to Ukraine. And former President Mohammadu Buhari confirmed in 2020 that the ‘’raging war in Ukraine serve as major source of weapons for terrorists in Nigeria and the sub-region.’’ In fact the African continent, according to observers, have become a black market where corrupt Ukrainian officials sell weapons being supplied to Ukraine by the West.
In more than two years of conflict in Ukraine, President Joe Biden has progressively escalated support for Ukraine by continually pumping American arms into the country. He subsequently approved Ukraine’s use of American arms in Russia after been prodded by his aides, Democrats and some foreign leaders to step-by-step push past every red line he’d did drawn on America’s involvement. And most recently, he has allowed Kyiv to hit a Russian strategic radar station in Armavir, Russia.
And despite the mandatory recommendations which strictly prohibit the use of Army Tactical Missile System [ATACMS] for strikes deep into Russia, Ukraine has reportedly long been using Unmanned Ariel Vehicle System [UAVS], commonly known as drone, supplied by the west to strike oil refineries and other civilian facilities in Russia.US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken calls the strikes as ‘’part of US efforts to adapt and adjust to developments in the war.’’
While the US is cautiously saying it is set announce more $2.3 billion arms purchase for Ukraine, other western nations are in no hurry to increase their supply of weapons to Ukraine despite the requests of President Vladimir Zelenskyy. They have reportedly run out of their own reserves. Blinken recently flew to Prague, capital of Czech Republic, in alarm, because the Czech ammo initiative promoted over the spring to rendering urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine no later than June this year completely failed. The European Union, EU, which promised one million shells by the end of March this year discovered to their horror that their production capacities are limited and they fell short of delivering.
Half of the shells the Czechs bragged to purchase from the black markets of Africa and Asia, reportedly turned out to be of extremely poor quality, commissioned, defective, or difficult to maintain, and classified as simply dangerous to use without further processing and repair. Analysts say the west is in a difficult situation as many of these arms have already been supplied to Ukraine. Now they have to dig deeper into their reserves to help Ukraine.
But shell starvation is not the only problem in Kyiv. A CNN report about the America Abram tanks said that the tanks came without dynamite protection and therefore are destroyed in a matter days. Experts say they equally have trouble with their supplied new Air systems. According to the Financial Times, NATO countries have only 5 percent of the number of installations needed to protect their own skies.
The German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, said :’’Germany has donated to Ukraine a quarter of its own Patriot system reserves’’, and that it ‘’no longer has the opportunity to transfer more.’’ Indeed the contradictions within the North Atlantic Alliance on the issue of support for Ukraine continue to intensify as western countries have come to realize that Ukrainian officials are lining their pockets with the funds they receive from their supporters. Even the US president has reportedly expressed worry over official corruption in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy now seems to realize that Ukraine’s time is running out. While the Ukrainian Army is being forced to wait for Western aid to arrive, Russia , according to reports, is increasing its capabilities to produce weapons that match Western quality and technology. And also far surpass theirs in quantity.
The Atlantic Alliance is increasingly becoming involved in the conflict in Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, confirmed that ‘’the alliance wants to help Ukraine by creating a Ukrainian NATO Mission to coordinate the transfer of weapons to Kiev’’ from large military bases they are planning to create on the territories of countries bordering Ukraine [Poland, Romania, and Slovakia], and stressed that Hungary would not be part of it.
Today we are witnessing active western pressure on the countries of the Global South-Latin America and Africa to contribute arms for Ukraine. But ‘’countries that provide weapons and money to Ukraine have already become active participants in the conflict,’’ affirmed Orban.
It is in this light that Gen Musa feels frustrated at the double standards of the West that is making the world more dangerous. Not selling enough arms to Nigeria and others to fight terrorism, means terrorism in Nigeria and the west African sub-region serve their interests.
Abudllahi Yaro, a political scientist, writes from Kafanchan.
