NEW: Trump Vows Military Action In Africa To Stop Killing Of Christians

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President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will authorize military action in Nigeria and the wider region if regional governments are unable to contain ISIS-aligned militants who have killed tens of thousands of civilians, including thousands of civilians, in a years-long conflict.

Nigeria has been battling an insurgency since 2009 when Boko Haram (formally Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS) launched a violent campaign against the Nigerian government, aiming to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Muslim-majority north. Rooted in Salafi-jihadist ideology, the group rejects Western education and targets civilians, security forces, schools, and perceived “infidels,” including Christians and moderate Muslims.

The group split in 2016, with one faction pledging allegiance to the Islamic State and rebranding as Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP).

The conflict has displaced upwards of 3 million civilians and killed thousands more both in Nigeria and surrounding countries. A multinational task force involving Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger has fought back against militants in the Lake Chad area but has been ineffective at containing the violence.

Since 2009, anywhere between 35,000 and 52,000 civilians have been killed by Islamic extremists in Nigeria. In the first half of 2025, at least 2,226 people were killed, surpassing all casualties recorded in 2024.

Boko Haram, ISWAP and related explicitly target Christians as “infidels,” attacking churches, villages, and schools in the region’s Christian-plurality Middle Belt and northeast. On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will renew its involvement in the conflict if the violence continues to escalate.

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” the president announced in a Truth Social post.

“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians,” he added, concluding the post with, “WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”

War Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the president’s announcement by stating that the War Department is ready for action if needed. “The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately. The Department of War is preparing for action,” Hegseth wrote.

“Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

The U.S. has long provided support for counterinsurgency operations in the region, though in Nigeria, support has been limited to non-combat roles. U.S. support ramped up significantly after Boko Haram’s 2014 Chibok kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls, which drew global attention and prompted then-President Barack Obama to direct expanded aid.

The U.S. has also carried out a number of airstrikes and raids in the Lake Chad Basin region over the last decade and beyond. President Trump’s latest announcement appears to indicate that such operations could intensify in the coming days and weeks.

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