The Australian authorities on Tuesday offered to deploy the country special forces to help Nigerian government in the Chibok girls find-and-rescue operation.
Speaking with Sky News, Australia Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that they had not received any clear response to their offer yet.
"We have not had a response from the Nigerian government. They’ve thanked us for our willingness to be involved in trying to rescue the girls but we haven’t had any specific acceptance of the offers that we’ve made."
Leader of Australia Green Party, holding the minority seats in the parliament, Christine Milne expressed shock over the abduction and urged the Nigerian authorities to provide more detailed information available to them before Australia sends troops to Africa. Explaining the request she was quoted saying by Punch:
"Is this just about rescuing the schoolgirls or is this about joining a coalition to take on another terrorist war in sub-Saharan Africa?"
The reference was apparently made to the "terrorist war" in Afghanistan, Premium Times reports.
More than 200 girls were abducted on April 14 in Chibok, Borno State. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released videos, in which girls were claimed to have been converted to Islam and were shown reciting Koran. World powerful leaders, including Britain, USA and France, had previously offered all the necessary assistance to rescue the girls.
Meanwhile Australia was first mentioned in connection with the abduction case some days ago, when information surfaced that President Goodluck Jonathan had secretly hired the Australian negotiator Dr. Stephen Davis to help with the rescue operation. Davis revealed that some kidnap victims are seriously ill and need medical attention.
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