Official: Freeing Nigerian girls a top U.S. priority

WASHINGTON — Freeing 276 Nigerian girls from the terrorist group Boko Haram is now one of the U.S. government’s top priorities, U.S. officials declared Thursday, issuing warnings about the militant group’s expanding reach and growing capacity for more sophisticated and deadlier terror attacks.

At the same time, the officials lamented limitations on U.S. cooperation and intelligence sharing with the Nigerian military due to human rights concerns and legal restrictions. They also expressed concern about the Nigerian government’s commitment and army’s ability to combat the group.

Robert Jackson, a State Department specialist on Africa, said that Boko Haram “has no regard for human life.” He said the Obama administration was boosting Nigeria’s intelligence and law enforcement capabilities, while seeking global sanctions on Boko Haram at the United Nations.

The girls’ abduction last month from a school in the remote Nigerian town of Chibok triggered global outrage. The extremist Islamist militants have threatened to sell the girls into slavery.

“Resolving this crisis is now one of the highest priorities of the U.S. government,” Jackson told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee. Boko Haram, he said, “has been killing innocent people in Nigeria for some time, and the attack at Chibok is part of that long, terrible trend.” The group has killed more than 1,000 people this year in attacks on schools, churches and mosques and now poses a growing threat to neighboring Cameroon, he added.

Testifying alongside Jackson, Alice Friend, the Defense Department’s principal director for Africa, said Boko Haram was becoming more dangerous by the day.