Search for kidnapped girls intensifying- AU
African Union’s Ugandan ambassador said in New York on Friday the Union is involved in intensifying efforts to find more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram two months ago.
“AU engaged in “quiet diplomacy, because some of this information, we don’t want it to reach those who abducted the children.” the Union’s ambassador to Uganda, Mull Katende said
“We look forward to their recovery as soon as possible, and all heads of state of the African Union have offered their support,” he said after
talks between AU and UN counterparts in New York.
The Ugandan diplomat said Nigeria could learn a lesson from his own country’s 20-year war against Lords Resistance Army rebels, “on how to isolate Boko Haram from the population.”
Asked how negotiations for the girls’ release could be advanced, Katende told reporters: “There are intensified efforts and a number of countries are helping Nigeria.”
“Now some of those efforts cannot come into the public, but these efforts are there, and we are hoping that these girls can be recovered
very soon,” he added.
He said the African Union wanted to strengthen its institutions and intelligence cells devoted to terrorism and was “employing a wide range
of measures,” without going into specifics.
