Nigeria's military has said that it knows the location of nearly 300 girls abducted last month from their school dormitory in Chibok, Borno State in northeastern Nigeria by members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram.
According to the Nigerian Punch, the Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh, said that the Nigerian military has located the girls but would not attempt to use force to rescue them so as not to endanger their lives.
Badeh's comments, while addressing members of a pro-government group, Citizens Initiative for Security Awareness, at the Defense Headquarters in the federal capital Abuja, reflects the felt need by the Nigerian authorities to counter negative portrayal of the Nigerian security forces and the government in the Western media.
"We want our girls back. I can tell you that our military can and will do it, but where they are held, can we go there with force? Nobody should say the Nigerian military does not know what it is doing. We can’t kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back," he said, according to Vanguard Nigeria.
He continued: "We know where they are, but we cannot tell you. We cannot come and tell you the military secret... we are working to get the girls back."
He defended the Nigerian security forces, recalling how Nigerian military intervention helped to restore democracy in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He contrasted the military's mission in Sierra Leone and Liberia with the Boko Haram insurgency, saying it was a different crisis because it is a conflict involving Nigerians killing other Nigerians.
The Associated Press reports that a US Defense spokesman said the department could not confirm the reports.
This is the first time that the Nigerian government has publicly admitted that it knows the whereabouts of the girls although there is evidence that the military has had knowledge of their location for some time but was bogged down with decision-making on how to act on a matter perceived in Nigerian official circles as essentially a political fifth column issue rather than a conflict with an outside terrorist organization.
"We want our girls back. I can tell you that our military can and will do it, but where they are held, can we go there with force? Nobody should say the Nigerian military does not know what it is doing. We can’t kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back," he said, according to Vanguard Nigeria.
He continued: "We know where they are, but we cannot tell you. We cannot come and tell you the military secret... we are working to get the girls back."
He defended the Nigerian security forces, recalling how Nigerian military intervention helped to restore democracy in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He contrasted the military's mission in Sierra Leone and Liberia with the Boko Haram insurgency, saying it was a different crisis because it is a conflict involving Nigerians killing other Nigerians.
The Associated Press reports that a US Defense spokesman said the department could not confirm the reports.
This is the first time that the Nigerian government has publicly admitted that it knows the whereabouts of the girls although there is evidence that the military has had knowledge of their location for some time but was bogged down with decision-making on how to act on a matter perceived in Nigerian official circles as essentially a political fifth column issue rather than a conflict with an outside terrorist organization.
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