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Close to 80 of the 276 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped by extremist group Boko Haram were once located by United States and United Kingdom intelligence, who then decided not to undertake a rescue mission, the International Business Times reported.
The sequestered girls were taken from the northeastern Nigerian boarding school nearly two years ago, on April 14, 2014. Their disappearance inspired a worldwide campaign for their rescue, using the slogan "Bring Back Our Girls".
First Lady, Michelle Obama was a leader of the movement, conducting many interviews in support of the campaign to bring the girls home.
It's sad to say but people only care about Africa when it suits them and when it's trending ... ie bring back our girls
— liv (@Livvy_Saint) March 22, 2016
“A couple of months after the kidnapping, flybys and an American eye in the sky spotted a group of up to 80 girls in a particular spot in the Sambisa forest, around a very large tree, called locally the Tree of Life, along with evidence of vehicular movement and a large encampment,” former British High Commissioner to Nigeria Andrew Pocock was quoted as saying by the International Business Times.
However, intelligence officials determined that a rescue mission was too risky, both for the soldiers who would have attempted it and the girls themselves.
"You might have rescued a few, but many would have been killed. My personal fear was always about the girls not in that encampment," Pocock said. "What would have happened to them? You were damned if you do and damned if you don't.”
In the two years since they were taken, some of the girls have escaped on their own. However, the majority are still in captivity.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the former military dictator of Nigeria, won recent elections, has said that rescuing the girls and defeating Boko Haram are among his top priorities.
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