Amid Kidnappings, Insurgency, U.S. Flies Spy Missions Over Nigeria

U.S. intelligence-gathering flights are now operating regularly over Nigeria, according to flight tracking data and U.S. officials cited by Reuters. The surveillance aircraft, a Gulfstream V jet operated by contractor Tenax Aerospace, flies from a base in Accra, Ghana, and has conducted near-daily missions since late November.

Analysts say the flights represent a U.S. effort to rebuild its intelligence capacity in West Africa after being expelled from a key airbase in Niger earlier this year. While the exact mission is not officially confirmed, officials indicate the operations are focused on tracking a kidnapped American pilot in neighboring Niger and monitoring militant groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province within Nigeria.

The flights follow a high-level security meeting between U.S. and Nigerian officials in November and come amid a severe security crisis in Nigeria, which has recently seen mass kidnappings and insurgent attacks.

The Nigerian government has agreed to the intelligence cooperation, even as it disputes U.S. characterizations of the violence as primarily targeting Christians, arguing the conflict is more complex.