The Nigerian government has finally dropped it's pride and accepted international help to curb the threat of Boko Haram. The West especially United States has been for ages asking the Nigerian government to accept assists to help fight this insurgence. But due to pride and unnecessary suspicion, the government has been holding back in accepting this offer until the recent abduction of over 200 girls by the dreaded terrorist group.
Welcoming the acceptance, Secretary of State John Kerry says a specialist team is already in Nigeria and set to start work to help locate the schoolgirls abducted by militants. He said the US team, working with the Nigerian government, would do everything possible to free the girls. Earlier, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said he hoped "a turning point" had been reached in the fight against Islamist insurgents Boko Haram. Nigerian government has been criticised for its slow response to the kidnappings. The schoolgirls were seized from their boarding school on the night of 14 April in the town of Chibok in north-eastern Borno state.
It is believed they are being held somewhere in the vast forested areas that stretch from near Chibok into neighbouring Cameroon. "Our inter-agency team is hitting the ground in Nigeria now and they are going to be working in concert with President Goodluck Jonathan's government to do everything that we possibly can to return these girls to their families and their communities," Mr Kerry said. "We are also going to do everything possible to counter the menace of Boko Haram."
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama said the team comprised personnel from military, law enforcement and other agencies. He said he hoped the kidnapping would galvanise the international community to take action against Boko Haram.
President Jonathan, speaking at the World Economic Forum being hosted in the capital, Abuja, said the abduction of the girls could be a turning point in the battle against Boko Haram. "I believe that the kidnap of these girls will be the beginning of the end of terror in Nigeria," he said. In his speech, he also thanked China, the US, the UK and France for their offers of help to rescue the girls. A bbc.co.uk extract.
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