Cameron Vows to Help Find Kidnapped Girls in Nigeria

Britain's David Cameron joins the United States in offering help to support the Nigerian government's response to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by an Islamist militant group. Full Story: Britain's David Cameron vowed on Wednesday to help find the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by an Islamist militant group. Responding to a question in parliament, the British prime minister condemned last month's kidnapping by Boko Haram Islamists and joined the United States in offering assistance to the Nigerian government. Boko Haram has threatened to sell the girls into slavery. Eight more girls were kidnapped on Tuesday from a village near one of the Islamists' strongholds in northeastern Nigeria. "This is an act of pure evil. It has united people across the planet to stand with Nigeria, to help find these children and return them to their parents," Cameron said. "The Foreign Secretary and the British government have made repeated offers to the Nigerian government since the girls were seized. I'll be speaking to the Nigerian president this afternoon and will again say that Britain stands ready to provide assistance as immediately as we can and working very closely with the U.S.," Cameron added. On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama told NBC News that the United States was "going to do everything we can to provide assistance to them." "In the short term our goal is obviously to help the international community, and the Nigerian government, as a team to do everything we can to recover these young ladies." In a separate interview with ABC News, Obama called the kidnappings heartbreaking. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan welcomed the U.S. offer to send an American team to Nigeria to support the government's efforts to find the girls. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau threatened in a video released to the media on Monday to sell the girls abducted from a secondary school on April 14 "on the market". The kidnappings by the Islamists, who say they are fighting for an Islamic state in Nigeria, have shocked a country long inured to the violence around the northeast. They have also embarrassed the government before a World Economic Forum meeting on Africa, the annual gathering of the wealthy and powerful, in Abuja from May 7 to 9. Nigerian officials had hoped the event would highlight their country's potential as Africa's hottest investment destination since it became the continent's biggest economy from a GDP recalculation in March. The forum has instead been overshadowed by the crisis over the girls, whose whereabouts remain a mystery. That has thrown the government's failings on national security into the spotlight just when it sought to parade its achievements such as power privatisation and economic stability to top global business people and politicians. Police and residents said the eight girls kidnapped overnight were aged 12 to 15. On Wednesday, Nigerian police offered a 50 million naira ($300,000) reward to anyone who can give credible information leading to the rescue of the schoolgirls. The military's inability to find the girls in three weeks has led to protests in the northeast, Abuja and Lagos, the commercial capital. For more news and videos visit ☛ http://ntd.tv Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision Add us on Facebook ☛ http://on.fb.me/s5KV2C