North Korea has agreed to share missile technology with Nigeria, the Nigerian government said -- a deal that would take the secretive communist nation's missile business to sub-Saharan Africa.
If the deal goes through, Nigeria would join Libya, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan and Syria among countries reported to have received North Korea's help with either missiles or missile technology.
Nigeria, which is not at war or under any known threat from other countries, said on Wednesday that any missile help would be used for "peacekeeping" and to protect its territory. It said it was not seeking nuclear technology or weapons of mass destruction.
A Nigerian official said no hardware acquisitions had yet been made or decided. The government did not say whether Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation and West Africa's military giant, would obtain missiles or simply receive help making them.
Referring to the announcement -- as well as news reports that Nigeria later turned down the offer -- US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "Obviously, this issue of regional stability and military acquisition is something that we do care about, something that's a regular part of our dialogue with Nigeria."
North Korea largely exports "simple, robust" Scud missile technology -- not up-to-date, but useful for countries with relatively unsophisticated militaries, said Rose Gottemoeller of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Weapons sales are a major source of revenue for financially strapped North Korea, but it is unusual for one of its clients to talk about a transaction publicly.
Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar reached the accord with Yang Hyong-sop, the visiting vice president of North Korea's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Abubakar's spokesman, Onukaba Ojo, said.
The two committed to a "program of cooperation that includes missile technology," Ojo said.
A statement from Abubakar's office said Nigeria's "government would continue to cooperate with the Korean government in the defense sector, an area in which both Nigeria and North Korea had cooperated over the years."
The North Korean was in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on a visit from Tuesday to tomorrow.
The US alleges that Pyongyang reaped about US$560 million from missile sales in 2001.
The deal made public Wednesday takes the North Koreans well out of their normal selling base, the Middle East, Gottemoeller said.
"What is surprising is that they're so far afield," she said.
Nigeria would be North Korea's first known sub-Saharan partner.
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