Countries ready to help Nigeria rout Boko Haram

More countries have offered to help Nigeria tackle the Boro Haram insurgency as global outrage mounts against the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by the Islamists in Chibok, Borno State on 14 April.

Countries that have offered to help the country secure the release of the girls include United States, Britain, Canada, Spain, Cameroon, Niger and Kenya.

In his reaction to the abduction of the girls, US President Barck Obama described it as heartbreaking and outrageous.

He called for global action and confirmed that the US had deployed military, law enforcement and other agencies to Nigeria to assist the security agencies in locating the whereabouts of the girls.

Mr Christian Paradis, Canadian Minister of International Development & La Francophonie, has also expressed the readiness of his country to assist Nigeria in the fight against terrorism. During his courtesy visit to Vice President Namadi Sambo in Abuja, Paradis said Canada will assist Nigeria to tackle the insurgency.

In his own reaction, the British Foreign Minister William Hague described the abduction of schoolgirls in Borno State as disgusting and offered to help the country secure the release of the girls.

“We are offering practical help,” Hague told reporters as he arrived for a Council of Europe meeting in Vienna to discuss ways to defuse the situation in Ukraine, where the government is trying to quell an insurrection by pro-Russian activists.

“What has happened here… the actions of Boko Haram to use girls as the spoils of war, the spoils of terrorism, is disgusting. It is immoral,” he said.

He said he did not want to discuss the details of what help Britain was offering and stressed that the principle responsibility for dealing with the incident rests with the government in Abuja.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Council of Europe in Vienna, Mr. Hague said: “It is disgusting, it is immoral, it should show everybody across the world that they should not give any support to such a vile organisation.

“Our hearts go out to (the girls’) families. I called the Nigerian foreign minister when this first arose back on Good Friday, in the middle of last month, to offer help from Britain, to express our concern.”

Asked how Britain might be able to assist the Nigerian authorities, Mr Hague said: “I don’t think it’s possible to go into the details of precisely what help we could provide, but we have offered assistance, our High Commissioner in Nigeria continues to offer assistance. We continue to discuss that with the Nigerians.

“Britain is offering assistance, but of course the primary responsibility for dealing with this rests with the Nigerians and we hope they will do what is necessary to reunite these girls with their families.”

Spain also condemned the atrocious attacks by Boko Haram and pledged assistance to Nigeria in the fight against the group.