DHQ: Kinetic Approach to Fighting Terrorism No Longer Realistic

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, yesterday, said the Armed Forces of Nigeria adopted the non-kinetic approach in the war against insurgency following the realisation that the desire to win the war using the kinetic option had become unrealistic.

Musa said states now waged war through non-kinetic action.

He made the statements in Abuja while delivering a keynote address on “Psychological Operations and Strategic Communication for National Security,” at an event organised by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

The forum focused on the theme, “Winning Hearts and Minds for National Cohesion and Development.”

Represented by Director, Training, Defence Headquarters, Rear Admiral Matthew Daupreye, the defence chief said using a non-kinetic approach in the fight against insurgency and other threats to national security will help in winning over the hearts and minds of the people.

Musa stated that warfare had gone beyond annihilating the adversary.

He stated, “Non-kinetic approach is the use of informational, psychological, diplomatic, economic, social and civil-military cooperation as part of instruments of national power to pursue national interests.

“It involves collaborations between the military and civil actors to achieve national interest through the application of non-lethal force or means that are sub-lethal or not intended to be lethal to dispose of the enemy.”

Musa stressed the need for greater inter-agency collaboration, in addition to psychological operations and strategic communication, to reduce acts of insurgency to the barest minimum.

He said a combination of conventional warfare, irregular warfare, terrorism and counter insurgency was asymmetric warfare waged by resistance groups, where you deliver forces or prevent the conventional force and economic intimidation in countries.

Earlier, the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Maj Gen Emmanuel Undiandeye, highlighted the importance of psychological operations as a way of winning the war against insurgency.

Undiandeye said the five-day programme, facilitated by the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Safe Neighbourhood Initiative, provided a unique opportunity and platform to understand the dynamics of psychological operations and strategic communications.