The United States has deployed a “small team” of troops to Nigeria following renewed security cooperation between both countries.

General Dagvin Anderson, commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), disclosed this during a press briefing on Tuesday. The announcement marks the first official confirmation of U.S. boots on Nigerian soil since missile strikes targeting terrorists in Sokoto during the Donald Trump administration on Christmas Day.

According to Anderson, the deployment followed his meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Rome late last year and reflects deeper collaboration between Washington and Abuja.

“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a small U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years,” he said.

He did not disclose details of the team’s mission or when it arrived in Nigeria.

The development comes weeks after Allison Hooker, a U.S. under-secretary of state, led officials from eight federal agencies to Abuja for a bilateral working group meeting with Nigerian security leaders. Nigeria’s delegation was led by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

The meeting followed the redesignation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) by the Trump administration.