ETHIOPIA: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the kidnapping of nearly 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria is "an unconscionable crime"

Record ID: 645083

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the kidnapping of nearly 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria is "an unconscionable crime"
  • Date: 3rd May 2014
  • Summary: ADDIS BABA, ETHIOPIA (MAY 3, 2014) (REUTERS) ***AUDIO AS INCOMING*** VARIOUS OF U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, ADDRESSING YOUTH CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ATTENDING YOUTH SHARING CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Let me be clear: the kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice." VARIOUS OF YOUTH CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "When people say 'that kind of development that happened in Europe and Asia can't happen here', we just plain disagree. It's already happening. Africans are shaping their future for themselves. You're shaping it for yourselves and we want to share and do our effort and help to provide and drive for a shared prosperity that reaches these millions of young people who need education and jobs. That's one of the reasons that I've come to Addis today." CROWD APPLAUDING AS KERRY FINISHES SPEECH KERRY LEAVING, SHAKING PEOPLE'S HANDS
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ethiopia
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6QNAHCV7JIT1I431FWOV0VRJ3
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the kidnapping of around 200 hundred schoolgirls in Nigeria, as he addressed a youth conference in Ethiopia on Saturday (May 3).
    Kerry is currently on an African tour to promote democracy and human rights, where he visited Ethiopia and South Sudan and is currently on his way to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola where he will end his trip on May 5.
    While addressing the conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kerry condemned the abduction of the girls by radical Islamist movement Boko Haram from a school in the northeast of the West African country.
    "Let me be clear: the kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice," he said.
    Gunmen suspected to be from Boko Haram on April 14 stormed an all-girls secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, packed the teenagers onto trucks and disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.
    Kerry also told the conference that Africans were shaping their own future.
    "When people say 'that kind of development that happened in Europe and Asia can't happen here', we just plain disagree. It's already happening. Africans are shaping their future for themselves. You're shaping it for yourselves and we want to share and do our effort and help to provide and drive for a shared prosperity that reaches these millions of young people who need education and jobs. That's one of the reasons that I've come to Addis today," he said.
    On Friday (May 2), Kerry visited South Sudan where thousands have been killed and more than one million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in December between troops backing Kiir and soldiers loyal to Machar, his sacked deputy.
    The violence, which broke out after a long political rivalry between the two men, quickly spread to areas including the oil-producing north, often along ethnic lines between Kiir's Dinka people and Machar's Nuer.
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