„Ce numéro de la revue de presse n’est actuellement disponible qu’en allemand et en
anglais. »
US confirms deployment of small military force to Nigeria
On Tuesday, US General Dagvin Anderson, commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), confirmed that the US had sent a small military force to Nigeria. The deployment follows talks between him and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu at the end of last year, during which it was decided to take joint action against terrorist threats. The announcement is the first official confirmation of a US military presence in Nigeria since the US air strike on Christmas Day last year.
General Anderson went on to explain that the US troops had been deployed at Nigeria’s request and were intended to provide targeted support to the Nigerian security forces in their fight against terrorist groups. Nigeria was a willing partner that would benefit from the capabilities and experience of the US. However, Anderson did not provide any details on the scope, composition or nature of the mission. The Nigerian government has also provided only limited information so far. However, in the face of numerous speculations and criticisms, Defence Minister Christopher Musa has been forced to specify that the deployment does not involve combat troops, but rather an advisory team providing intelligence support and training. Previously, a former US official had speculated that the American special forces would focus primarily on supporting the Nigerian government in gathering information and conducting targeted operations against terrorist groups.
The current deployment is in line with a series of earlier measures that suggest a redefinition of Nigerian-American security relations and increased US involvement in the fight against terrorism in West Africa. The United States is said to have been conducting surveillance flights over Nigeria from neighbouring Ghana since at least the end of November 2025 in order to identify potential terrorist threats. At the end of December, US President Donald Trump ordered an air strike in the north-western Nigerian state of Sokoto, targeting the Lakurawa armed group, which is believed to be linked to Islamic State. According to AFRICOM, the attack was carried out in coordination with the Nigerian government and local authorities. Several Lakurawa fighters were killed.
The background to these measures is Washington’s increasing pressure on Abuja to take more decisive action against Islamist militias. In October 2025, Trump declared that Christians in north-western Nigeria were facing an existential threat. He threatened military intervention if the violence against Christians did not stop. The Nigerian government strongly rejected the allegations of systematic persecution of Christians or even of a ‘Christian genocide’. The security situation in Nigeria is complex. Islamist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have been terrorising various regions for up to two decades. Both Christians and Muslims are attacked. Just overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, at least 170 people from a Muslim village in the central-western state of Kwara were killed by jihadists because they refused to follow the radical doctrine. President Tinubu announced on Thursday that he would send a battalion to the region. AFRICOM’s support, meanwhile, is to focus on Sokoto and north-eastern Nigeria. While observers see the mission as an expression of the US’s determination to expand its military presence on the African continent, others warn that too much leadership from Washington in the military sphere could reinforce anti-American sentiment in the country and the region.
Chad’s Mahamat Déby visits France’s Macron
At the end of last week, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed his Chadian counterpart Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno to the Élysée Palace in Paris to revive tense bilateral relations. Macron and Mahamat Déby agreed on a ‘revitalised partnership’ based on mutual respect, sovereignty and common interests. The two countries are seeking deeper cooperation, particularly in the economic sphere, especially in the areas of energy, digitalisation, agriculture, livestock farming, education and culture. This means that the focus of cooperation will no longer be on military and security issues, as in the past, but on investment and cultural exchange.
The conversation is considered a turning point in bilateral relations. These had deteriorated rapidly in November 2024 after Chad terminated its decades-long military cooperation with France. Chad justified the decision as an expression of its sovereignty and its rejection of an agreement it considered outdated. The last French soldiers had to leave Chad by 31 January 2025. Chad also reacted sharply to Macron’s statement about Africa’s ‘ingratitude’ towards the French military. Relations were further strained by a judicial investigation in Paris into Mahamat Déby’s alleged financial misconduct, which the Chadian president criticised as interference in internal affairs. As a result, Mahamat Déby expanded his contacts across the entire political spectrum in France. In March 2025, he received the far-right politician Marine Le Pen, whose trip was seen as an attempt to capitalise on France’s waning influence and strengthen her own international position.
N’Djamena has also strengthened its relations with other countries, particularly Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Belarus. Chad only agreed on military cooperation with Belarus in January. Mahamat Déby has always emphasised that his country does not intend to assign France’s old role to a new power, but rather wants to enter into equal partnerships with a variety of states without allowing itself to be politically co-opted. It is said that Mahamat Déby has rejected offers from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) to join the alliance.
Some analyses therefore see pragmatic considerations as just as much a reason for reviving relations with France as domestic and security policy reasons, which arise primarily from the war in neighbouring Sudan. Two weeks ago, seven Chadian soldiers were killed in clashes along the border between Chad and Sudan by the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – the second incident of this kind since December, although the RSF subsequently issued an official apology. France, among others, accuses Chad of providing logistical support to the RSF, including transporting weapons from the UAE.
Meanwhile, the war in Sudan was also a topic of discussion between Mahamat Déby and Macron. The two presidents called on the parties to the conflict in Sudan to respect the humanitarian ceasefire proposed by the Quad Initiative – consisting of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the UAE – and called for a political solution to preserve unity and territorial integrity. Chad, which shares a border with Sudan stretching around 1,300 km, is home to around one million Sudanese refugees. The influx is placing a heavy strain on the resources of the Central African country, with only 17% of the humanitarian aid deemed necessary by the government being financed.
The extent to which the renewed cooperation between Paris and N’Djamena covers this area remained unclear, as did the scope of the cooperation as a whole. In any case, no financial commitments were announced. Thus, Mahamat Déby’s visit signals a cautious normalisation of French–Chadian relations, although it remains to be seen what form this will take.
Special news
In Berlin, a commemorative plaque initiated by the civil society association Afrika-Forum e. V. in memory of the Berlin Conference of 1884/85, also known as the Berlin West Africa or Congo Conference, has apparently been stolen. The multilingual plaque, which has been in place since 2005 at the historic location at Wilhelmstraße 92, provides information about the conference, which was held at the invitation of Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and serves as a reminder of colonial violence and historical responsibility. It was still in place during a last inspection in December 2025, but was reported to have been completely removed at the end of last week. A criminal complaint for theft and, alternatively, damage to property has been filed with the Berlin police. The memorial plaque was a place of learning and encounter for school classes, citizens and international delegations alike. Its disappearance leaves a gap not only in the cityscape, but also in the public memory.
In other news
On Saturday, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti was posthumously honoured with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his musical life’s work. The Recording Academy had already announced the award in December, and the presentation took place during the Grammys Special Merit Ceremony in Los Angeles. Four of his children accepted the award on behalf of the Nigerian artist, who died in 1997 at the age of 58. Kuti is the first African musician to receive the award, which has been presented at the Grammys since 1963. The award honours Kuti as a pioneer of Afrobeat, a genre he developed by fusing Yoruba rhythms with jazz and funk, and which is considered the inspiration for the popular music genre Afrobeats. Kuti was honoured alongside other international music greats such as Carlos Santana and Whitney Houston, elevating his work to the highest echelons of music. Although the award is primarily for Kuti’s artistic achievements, his music has always been inextricably linked to social criticism and political resistance. A passionate pan-Africanist and anti-imperialist, Kuti denounced corruption, authoritarian rule and social injustice under Nigeria’s military dictatorships, suffering arrests and violent repression as a result. The current award underscores the global influence of Afrobeat and its fundamental role in modern African music.