Chinelo Obogo
A group of women, under the umbrella of Africa Arise for Change Network, has cried out to the United States President, Donald Trump, for protection from terrorists in Africa.
The group said threats to women in Africa called for urgent need for America to reassert its global leadership status.
Recall that the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of Boko Haram terrorist group, had recently executed Hauwa Leman, an aid worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in Borno State.
The terrorists also vowed to keep Leah Sharibu, one of the Dapchi schoolgirls, who is currently in their custody, as “a slave for life.”
Irked by the ugly incidents, the women, in a letter addressed to President Trump through the US Ambassador to Nigeria, called on the United State Government to urgently intervene before it is too late.
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The letter signed by Gbemisola Osadua, Executive Director of the group, decried that most of these women and girls abducted by Boko Haram in the northern areas of Nigeria experienced sexual violence including rape, torture and also murder.
She further urged the American Government to stand in and ensure the protection of the rights of women and children from further abuse by Boko Haram terrorists.
According to her, “Dear President of the United States, the list is inexhaustible hence this appeal for your kind intervention in saving women and children from the threat of Boko Haram in Nigeria and by extension in Africa.
“It is, therefore, our considered opinion that there is an urgent need for the United States of America to reassert its global leadership status by intervening in the war against terrorism in Nigeria and Africa.
“This is important because armed conflicts such as the Boko Haram conflict do have a devastating and harsh impact on women and girls. Women and girls suffer violations such as rape, forced prostitution, sexual slavery, forced impregnation and in some cases deaths as evident in the cases of Hauwa Liman and Saifura Khorsa, two aid workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross, that were summarily executed by the Boko Haram terrorist group in North East Nigeria.”
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The women said further in the letter that “it is also safe to state that terrorism now transcended international boundaries and no country could combat the scourge alone.
“And this is why we are of the opinion that the United States of America must take its rightful place as the global leader in the fight against terrorism by coming to the aid of Nigeria.”