The decision to deploy an 80-man marine squad in Chad to expedite the detection of the 200 girls who have been kidnapped by the Islamist group Boko Haram announced on Wednesday the White House.
“The squad will support the tracking operation of a reconnaissance plane scheduled to fly over northern Nigeria and the surrounding areas” mentions the announcement of the White House to Congress. The marines that belong to the elite Navy Seals unit have already arrived in Chad.
The Marines will remain there “until their help for locating of the girls is no longer needed.”
This is the second wave of aid from the U.S. to the government of the African country. The White House has already sent a group of eight experts to Nigeria to assist in the investigations. They are accompanied by 20 other officers and specialists in intelligence that work as consultants to the government.
The spokesman of the U.S. Defence Department explained that the mobilization of the most well trained and most effective unit in the world is considered necessary, as the mission is as difficult as “trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
“We’re talking about an area roughly the size of West Virginia, and it’s dense forest jungle,” stressed John Kirby.
For a long time, the news of the abduction of girls didn’t spread beyond Africa. However, when the campaign “Bring Back Our Girls” was launched, with the participation of celebrities such as Malala and Michelle Obama, it triggered a global uproar.
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