US vows to help Nigeria to rescue abducted Chibok girls

THE United States Secretary of State, Senator John Kerry, has expressed the US' determination to assist Nigeria in finding the over 200 kidnapped schoolgirls weeks after they were abducted in Chibok, Maiduguri State, adding that his
country was already working with Nigeria to strengthen its institutions and military to combat terrorism.
Kerry, who was speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on
Saturday, in continuation of his Africa Tour, which
began on Wednesday, described the Chibok abduction
as an "unconscionable crime," saying that the
perpetrators would be brought to justice.
He said: "Let me be clear. The kidnapping of hundreds
of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime,
and we will do everything possible to support the
Nigerian government to return these young women to
their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice. I will
tell you, my friends, I have seen this scourge of terror
across the planet, and so have you. They don't offer
anything except violence. They don't offer a health care
plan, they don't offer schools. They don't tell you how
to build a nation, they don't talk about how they will
provide jobs. They just tell people, "you have to behave
the way we tell you to," and they will punish you if you
don't."
According to Kerry, lack of security, threats of violence
and all-out war have been preventing the prosperity of
the African continent.
"The burdens of past divisions might not disappear
entirely, my friends. But they must never be allowed to
bury the future. The African Union's commitment to
silence the guns of Africa by 2020 is an ambitious goal.
It is the right goal. It is a vision worth fighting for, and
one that we will do everything in our power to help you
achieve, and that's why we will continue to provide
financial and logistical support to African Union-led
efforts in Somalia, where al-Shahaab is under
significant pressure. That's why we will continue to
support the African Union Regional Task Force against
the Lord's Resistance Army, where LRA-related deaths
have dropped by 75 percent, and hundreds of
thousands have returned to their homes.
And that's why we are working to strengthen Nigeria's
institutions and its military to combat Boko Haram, and
their campaign of terror and violence," Kerry stated.