The weapons pipeline to Ukraine, fed extensively by the U.S. and its European allies, seems to have at least one outflow in Africa. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari told the 16th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in Abuja on Nov. 29 that weapons from the Ukraine war are now slipping into the Lake Chad Basin region. According to the Sahara Reporter, Buhari said the Russia/Ukraine conflict and other violent situations in the Sahel region of West Africa had compounded the Boko Haram terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin region. He said though a lot had been done to decimate the strength of the Boko Haram terror group and other violent extremist groups in the region, terrorist threats persist.
“Regrettably, the situation in the Sahel and the raging war in Ukraine serve as major sources of weapons and fighters that bolster the ranks of the terrorists in Lake Chad Region. A substantial proportion of the arms and ammunition procured to execute the war in Libya, continues to find its way to the Lake Chad Region and other parts of the Sahel. Weapons being used for the war in Ukraine and Russia are equally beginning to filter to the region,” Buhari said.
