Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has requested a review of U.S. security assistance and cooperation programs in Nigeria following Reuters reporting on an illegal abortion program and killing of children carried out by the Nigerian military. Nigerian military leaders denied the program has ever existed and said Reuters reporting was part of a foreign effort to undermine the country's fight against the insurgents. Nigerian military leaders told Reuters the army has never targeted children for killing. The deal, approved in April, had been put on hold over concerns about possible human rights abuses by the Nigerian government. The United States has also obligated about $6 million between 2016 and 2020 for the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.

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