Members of the U.S. military will be arriving in Nigeria in the next day or so to help in the search of 276 girls that were kidnapped last month, officials have announced.
The team will be working with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his government to search and find clues about the girls’ location.
“Obviously, it’s a heartbreaking situation, outrageous situation,” U.S. President Barack Obama told ABC earlier this week. “We’ve already sent in a team to Nigeria. They’ve accepted our help through a combination of military, law enforcement and other agencies who are going in, trying to identify where in fact these girls might be and provide them help.”
Steve Warren, Pentagon spokesman, told ABC News that his military team will be part of a larger team that will include a wide range of experts. Some will be communications experts while other will be intelligence and logistics experts.
It is believed that the girls might be deep into the country’s forests. Some might have already been separated into different groups, other reports say. This makes it even harder and dangerous for rescue teams to get to them as they could be surrounded by wildlife.
The Islamic terror group that kidnapped the girls has threatened to sell them as slaves or force them to marry against their own will.
Jonathan and his government have been criticized for not acting fast enough.
He has gone on to say that he promises the girls will be found and that it will be a turning point for his country’s battle against the terror group.
“I believe that the kidnap of these girls will be the beginning of the end of terror in Nigeria,” he said during his speech at the World Economic Forum.
Since the capture three weeks ago on April 14, a worldwide social media campaign has been created with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Notable public figures and celebrities have joined the campaign with tweets and photos of themselves holding a sign with the hashtag.
“Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It’s time to #BringBackOurGirls,” U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama tweeted. She has also been photographed holding a sign with the hashtag.
Actress Angelina Jolie told a French news channel that she is absolutely sickened by the situation.
“The thought of them out there right now, terrified and being abused, and sold … it’s infuriating, and it kind of goes beyond understanding that somebody could do this,” she said.
Closer to Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti posted a picture of himself Thursday afternoon holding a sign that says “#BringBackOurGirls” on his Facebook page.
He captioned the photo “It’s time to end human trafficking. #BringBackOurGirls.”
