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Michelle Obama Expresses Outrage Over Kidnapped Schoolgirls In Nigeria

Michelle Obama Expresses Outrage Over Kidnapped Schoolgirls In Nigeria

From Business Insider

Michelle Obama has taken the rare step of delivering her husband’s weekly video address to express outrage over the plight of more than 250 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militants in Nigeria.

The US first lady began the address, which is broadcast on radio and uploaded to YouTube, by wishing Americans a happy Mother’s Day, before saying: “Like millions of people across the globe, my husband and I are outraged and heartbroken over the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian girls from their school dormitory in the middle of the night.

“This unconscionable act was committed by a terrorist group determined to keep these girls from getting an education – grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls.”

The militant Islamist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school in Chibok in remote northeastern Nigeria on 14 April and has threatened to sell them into slavery, while eight girls were taken from another village earlier this week.

The abductions have drawn international condemnation and promises of special forces assistance to find the girls from the US and UK. The Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, said on Friday he believed the girls were still in his country.

“I want you to know that Barack has directed our government to do everything possible to support the Nigerian government’s efforts to find these girls and bring them home,” the first lady said. “In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters. We see their hopes, their dreams, and we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now.”

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