A manned
twin-engine surveillance plane, called the Beechcraft MC-12W Liberty, has begun
flying missions over Nigeria to help track down the country's kidnapped
schoolgirls, according to American media reports.
Officials
said the missions were being launched from a US drone base in Niger, although
there were no reports of drones being used to date.
First used
in Iraq in 2009, the MC-12W surveillance and reconnaissance plane can monitor
movement on the ground through real-time video, and intercept phone and
satellite communications. Through the use of infrared equipment the turboprop
aircraft can provide visual data through foliage and at night. The aircraft,
which can carry two pilots and two sensor operators, can fly for up to six or
eight hours, keep a low alititude and slow down to maximse the ability to
gather information.
The US air
force has 37 of an expected total of 42 MC-12W aircraft. Since their
introduction in Iraq they have been used extensively in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile,
US intelligence is analysing a video of the kidnapped girls in an effort to
match the surroundings to a precise location. The girls could have been moved
since the video was made, however. The US last week sent a team of 16 military personnel
to Nigeria to help find 200 girls kidnapped last month.
The team,
made up from the FBI, intelligence personnel and the US military, is being
coordinated by the US state department.
"The
purpose of the Africom team is to coordinate with the Nigerian military and
assess their needs and determine what assistance we can provide them to help in
their search," said Tom Davis, a colonel and the director of public
affairs for Africom. "The team consists of experts in communications,
logistics and intelligence."
The team
arrived in Nigeria last week after Barack Obama's offer of help was accepted by
his Nigerian counterpart, Goodluck Jonathan. It is assessing what help the US
can provide the Nigerian military.
Davis said
no other US troops had been deployed or were involved in operations against the
group Boko Haram, suspected of keeping the girls.
The Chinese
government has already said it would make available to the Nigerian security
services any intelligence gleaned from its spy satellites and other sources.
In what
could complicate US efforts to help Nigeria, there are legal restrictions on
how much military aid the US can give to a country that has a record of human
rights violations. According to CBS News none of the intelligence collected by
the manned aircraft has been shared yet with the Nigerians.
Amnesty
International says that over the past three years there are grave human rights
violations in Nigeria committed by security forces in response to Boko Haram,
including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, indiscriminate
torching of civilian housing, and arbitrary detention.
By law, the
US is barred from training or providing military equipment to any foreign
military units that have been implicated in "gross human rights
abuses". The Leahy law – so called as it was first introduced by Senator
Patrick Leahy – has been a significant obstacle over the years to any increased
US military support and attempts to train Nigerian forces to counter Boko
Haram.
Nevertheless,
US Africa command (Africom), which has its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany,
last week announced that for the first time that personnel from United States
army Africa (USARAF), a command of Africom, would go to the continent to train
a Nigerian ranger battalion to deal with internal threats.
culled from the guardian.com
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