PARIS (AFP) – France on Wednesday
offered Nigeria a “special team” to look
for more than 200 girls kidnapped by
Islamist militant group Boko Haram in an
incident that has triggered global shock
and condemnation.
The extremists seized a first batch of
schoolgirls in Nigeria’s restive northeast
three weeks ago, saying they were holding
them as “slaves” and threatening to sell
them, and have since kidnapped other
girls in the area.
“A special team with all our resources in
the region is at the disposal of Nigeria to
help in the search and recovery of these
young girls,” French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius told parliament.
President Francois Hollande is due to
hold phone talks with his Nigerian
counterpart Goodluck Jonathan on the
subject on Wednesday evening, sources
close to the French leader said.
France already has troops on the ground
in Mali not far away, where they continue
to engage in intelligence gathering to
further weaken armed Islamists in the
north after driving them out of towns they
had occupied
for months.
“The president gave the defence minister
and myself the order… to put our
(intelligence) services at the disposal of
Nigeria and neighbouring countries,”
Fabius said.
Described as “heartbreaking” and
“outrageous” by US President Barack
Obama on Tuesday, the kidnappings have
drawn several pledges of help from the
international community.
Washington has deployed military experts
to Nigeria to help search for the girls and
Britain has offered unspecified practical
help.
Earlier Wednesday, French government
spokesman Stephane Le Foll denounced
the kidnappings as “one of the most
atrocious forms of terrorism because it
involves kidnapping and trafficking
children.”
His comments came as Boko Haram this
week kidnapped another 11 girls from a
village in Borno state, the epicentre of the
group’s five-year Islamist uprising.
And on Wednesday, witnesses and a local
senator said the extremist group had
staged a bloody attack in the
northeastern town of Gamboru Ngala,
firing on fleeing civilians and killing
hundreds.
Source: Vanguard
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