Abductions a turning point in conflict
Nigeria's president said on Thursday that Boko Haram's mass abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls would mark a turning point in the battle against the Islamists, as world powers joined the search to rescue the hostages.
President Goodluck Jonathan's administration has struggled to contain Boko Haram's bloody five-year uprising and experts have questioned whether Nigeria can end the violence without help.
"I believe that the kidnap of these girls will be the beginning of the end of terror in Nigeria," Jonathan told delegates at the World Economic Forum, thanking China, the United Kingdom, France and the United States for their offers of help to rescue the hostages.
The four world powers have pledged varying levels of assistance to track down the girls whose April 14 mass abduction from a school in Chibok in northeastern Borno state has sparked global outrage.
Washington plans to send a team of military personnel as well as specialists from the Justice Department and the FBI, US officials said.
Britain said it will send experts in planning and coordination, France has offered a specialist team, while China said it would provide intelligence support and relevant satellite imagery.
AFP
(China Daily 05/10/2014 page7)
