US admits no progress in Chibok girls’ rescue

The United States has decided to cut back on its operations in the efforts to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram over two months ago.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said at the weekend that nothing had changed in the circumstances of the girls.

“We don’t have any better idea today than we did before about where these girls are, but there’s been no letup of the effort itself,” Kirby said.

An unnamed official said the US had decreased its surveillance flights in Nigeria but added that with more flights by other countries, the overall effort remained unchanged.

The support by the British and French will make up for the US cuts, the official said, according to a Reuters report.

Kirby said some of the resources America deployed in Nigeria had been diverted from other missions in Africa.

They could now be used elsewhere on the continent, he disclosed, while another source said US surveillance flights over Nigeria were now “intermittent”.

Initial hopes that the involvement of Western powers would lead to a swift rescue of the kidnapped girls have since faded.

It is now becoming glaring that the use of force could be tragic and the 219 girls might have been split up in groups, making possible rescue more complicated.