Nigeria kidnappings ‘act of pure evil’ – Cameron
David Cameron says the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Nigeria three weeks ago was an “act of pure evil”, as the Nigerian police offer a $300,000 reward for information leading to their rescue.
Speaking at prime minister’s questions in the Commons, Mr Cameron said he would make a fresh offer of help to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said: “I’m the father of two young daughters and my reaction is the same as every father or mother in this land or the world. This is an act of pure evil, it has united people across the planet to stand with Nigeria to help find these children and return them to their parents.”
The prime minister was speaking after the US said it was sending a team of experts to Nigeria to help find the girls.
US President Barack Obama described the kidnapping of the girls as “outrageous”, soon after residents said the group had seized eight more girls, aged between 12 and 15, again in the embattled north-east.
‘Global action’
Mr Obama urged global action against Boko Haram and confirmed Nigerian leaders had accepted an offer to deploy US personnel there.
The first group of girls was taken three weeks ago, and concerns have been mounting about their fate after Boko Haram chief, Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility in a video, saying his group was holding the schoolgirls as “slaves” and threatening to “sell them in the market”.
It’s a heartbreaking situation, outrageous situation – Barack Obama
Mr Shekau criticised the female students for being taught “western education”, which the Islamic group is avidly against. He also warned that his group planned to attack more schools and abduct more people.
Speaking to US broadcaster ABC, Mr Obama said: “It’s a heartbreaking situation, outrageous situation.
“This may be the event that helps to mobilise the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organisation that’s perpetrated such a terrible crime.”
The team sent to Nigeria consists of “military, law enforcement, and other agencies”, Mr Obama said, and will work to “identify where in fact these girls might be and provide them help”. He denounced Boko Haram as “one of the worst regional or local terrorist organisations”.
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US officials have voiced fears that those abducted, who are aged between 16 and 18, have already been smuggled into neighbouring countries, such as Chad and Cameroon. The governments of both denied those abducted were in their countries.
‘Heinous people’
Their fate has sparked global outrage and may constitute a crime against humanity according to the UN. Parents of those taken said Mr Shekau’s video had made an already horrifying situation even worse.
“All along, we have been imagining what could happen to our daughters in the hands of these heinous people,” one mother, Lawal Zanna, told AFP news agency by phone from Chibok. The latest kidnappings also took place in Borno state.
Abdullahi Sani, a resident of Warabe, said gunmen had moved “door to door, looking for girls” late on Sunday.
“They forcefully took away eight girls between the ages of 12 and 15,” he said, in an account confirmed by other witnesses.
Video: Boko Haram - 'I abducted your girls'
He said the attackers did not kill anyone, which was “surprising”, and suggested that abducting girls was the motive for the attack. Another Warabe resident, Peter Gombo, told AFP that the military and police had not yet deployed to the area.
“We have no security here. If the gunmen decide to pick our own girls, nobody can stop them.”
Though initially slow to emerge, global outrage has flared over the mass abduction in Chibok, where Boko Haram stormed their school and loaded the girls at gunpoint onto trucks.
Several managed to escape but over 220 girls are still being held, according to police, with other sources saying the number is closer to 300. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the kidnappings “disgusting”.