The move would add to a small US team already in the West African nation after the first publicly acknowledged US ground presence there since carrying out strikes on Christmas Day.
The troops are expected to deploy in the coming weeks to provide training and technical support, a US official told Reuters on Tuesday. The official said the 200 troops will supplement a handful of US military personnel already inNigeriato help local forces.
They will be assigned to locations across the country to provide training and technical expertise but will not be involved in combat operations, the official said.
The US military said last week it had sent a small team of troops to Nigeria without specifying a number, marking the first acknowledgment of US forces on the ground sinceWashingtonstruck by air on 25 December.
Trump has said there could be more US military action in Nigeria, while Reuters has reported that theUnited Stateshad been conductingsurveillanceflights over the country fromGhanasince at least late November.
Spotlight on Africa: US strikes in Nigeria and fear among the African diaspora
'Christian genocide'
Relations between Nigeria and the United States shifted after Trump late last year threatened to enter Nigeria guns-a-blazing to avenge what he has called a Christian genocide.
Weeks later, on Christmas Day, US Navy warships aided by Nigerian intelligence launched 16 Tomahawk missiles at what Trump said was the terrorist scum responsible for killing Nigerian Christians.
US military officials are still assessing the damage from the strikes in northwest Nigeria but said more than three dozenIslamic State-affiliated fighters were flushed out and later arrested by Nigerian authorities.
Residents have said the missiles hit empty fields and vacant militant hide-outs.
Nigeria has come under intense pressure from Washington to act after Trump alleged the country was failing to protect Christians fromIslamistmilitants operating in the northwest.
The Nigerian government denies any systematic persecution of Christians, saying it is targeting Islamist fighters and other armed groups that attack and kill both Christians and Muslims.
US Africa Command, the US military command responsible for operations in Africa, said it was helping Nigeria in its campaign against several extremist groups, includingBoko Haramand Islamic States West Africa Province.
(with Reuters)
Originally published on RFI
