The UN Security Council on Friday strongly condemned the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls, as the world body’s secretary-general dispatched an envoy to help find them.
The diplomatic moves came after Amnesty International said that Nigeria’s military had been warned of an attack on a school in which more than 200 girls were abducted by Boko Haram Islamists three weeks ago, but failed to act for nearly five hours.
The Nigerian military denied the allegation and has launched a round-the-clock search for the missing girls.
Photo: AFP
At least 10 army search teams were trying to track down the girls in the remote far northeast, border guards were on high alert and the air force had so far flown at least 250 sorties.
Nigeria is keen to demonstrate that it is finally acting to trace the 223 girls still missing, after three weeks where the teenagers’ parents and families accused them of inaction and indifference.
However, Amnesty’s allegations are likely to heap further pressure on Nigeria’s embattled government and military.
The unanimous UN Security Council declaration said the mass kidnappings “may amount to crimes against humanity” under international law, but made no explicit reference to charges in the International Criminal Court.
The 15 members of the council said they would follow the situation and consider “appropriate measures” to take against Boko Haram.
The statement urged their immediate release, without conditions.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced he was sending special representative of the UN secretary-general and head of the UN office for West Africa, Said Djinnit, to Abuja to discuss ways of helping authorities locate the girls.
US, British and French experts have already arrived on the ground to help trace the schoolgirls.
Hundreds of people from the girls’ home town of Chibok, in northeastern Borno state, took to the streets of the state capital, Maiduguri, to vent their frustrations at the lack of immediate action.
At the same time, Nelson Mandela’s widow Graca Machel broke her customary mourning period to plead for the girls’ safe return.
Amnesty said that from 7pm on April 14, military commanders had repeated warnings about an impending raid in Chibok.
Two senior military officers said not enough troops could be found to head to the town to stave off the attack, as soldiers were reluctant to face guerrilla fighters who were better equipped.
Up to 200 armed Boko Haram fighters eventually abducted 276 girls at about 11:45pm after fighting a small number of police and soldiers stationed in the town.
Amnesty’s Africa research and advocacy director Netsanet Belay described the situation as a “gross dereliction of Nigeria’s duty to protect civilians,” adding that people remained “sitting ducks” for future attacks.
The girls’ kidnap and the threat by Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau in a video that he would sell them as slaves has triggered world outrage and a groundswell of calls for action on social networks.
US first lady Michelle Obama is to speak out against the kidnappings when she gives the weekly presidential address instead of her husband, the White House said on Friday.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS