CHIBOK GIRLS: UK May Send Surveillance Aircraft And Military Team To Nigeria

After the US has sent a manned surveillance aircraft to help Nigerian government find abducted school girls, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has offered to send a spy plane to Nigeria.

A screen capture taken from the latest Boko Haram video shows the alleged kidnapped girls dressed in the full-length hijabs and praying in an undisclosed rural location. Credit: AFP

The offered aircraft is a RAF Sentinel R1 spy plane, which has a crew of five, the British Ministry of Defence said. Cameron’s offer of help also includes an intelligence team in Abuja that would analyse information about the girls’ location.
The British prime minister described the abduction of the teenagers as “an act of pure evil”, and said that “the world is coming together not just to condemn it but to do everything we can to help the Nigerians find these young girls”.
According to BBC, some experts from the UK have already been sent to provide planning help and advice on co-ordination to the local authorities.
Responding to the criticism of one of the MPs who said that Nigerian government “has not lifted a finger to protect its own citizens in the north”, Cameron insisted that Nigerian authorities were doing their best to tackle insecurity in the country.
“They do face a very vicious terrorist organisation in terms of Boko Haram, they are investing in and training their armed forces and counter-terrorism abilities.”
It’s been a month since Islamist insurgents Boko Haram abducted nearly 300 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. The militants offered to exchange some of the girls for the sect’s members held in various prisons across Nigeria.
Federal Government on Tuesday, May 13, said it was ready to start negotiation with Boko Haram. The Telegraph of London has reported today that the insurgents may soon name their negotiator and release the names of its imprisoned members whom they want to swap for their hostages.