Bring back our girls!

ON April 15, 230 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their dorms at the Chibok Government Secondary School by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria. All 230 are still missing.

The world is agonizing over the fate of these missing girls, and President Donald Ramotar, himself a father, has joined in the international appeal to “Bring back our girls!”, as have the young people in the People’s Progressive Party’s youth arm, The Progressive Youth Organisation.

The PYO has organized its mass-based countrywide membership in vigils and other activities to bring public awareness to the plight of these young girls and their suffering families. However, the opportunistic Guyanese opposition parties have once again demonstrated their self-centred and inhuman characteristics by making a mockery of the PYO’s vigil that was held last Monday evening. Sherlina Nageer, a member of SASOD, an arm of Red Thread, the PNC/WPA/APNU women’s group, and others have openly jibed the efforts of the members of the PPP youth arm while holding aloft anti-PPP/Government placards.

Every voice counts in this international effort, and one would have thought that, for the sake of humanity, Guyana’s opposition parties would have put aside their perennial nastiness and cease their politicking to join the nation in a collective voice of appeal for the return of those girls.
Linked by the Internet, the struggle is intensifying all across the world; and Change.Org has ongoing petitions circling the globe on the Internet, and one blurb reads: “We continue to show deep concern and support to the families of the abducted girls, and give encouragement to all the international support Nigeria is receiving. Hoping, wishing and praying that all efforts being put into rescuing them ensures their safe return.”

The website appeal continued: “In Nigeria, over 200 girls were recently abducted from their boarding school, and are reported to be eventually sold as brides for $12 each. This petition calls on all world leaders and enabled parties to rescue them.

“The abducted 276 girls are victims of an ongoing conflict within Nigeria that they did not create, and their voices need to be heard. We can only imagine what these 200+ girls have been through, and solicit that more efforts be put to save them.”

One comment read: “I am a young person who believes (that no) child, regardless of their sex, should…be denied access to education. We believe that more can be contributed to the efforts of the Nigerian Government to ensure the safe return of these girls.

“By signing this petition, we express our solidarity with the kidnapped girls, and implore the world not to forget them; support all efforts to ensure their safe return, and (see) that efforts are made to ensure all schools are safe places (at which) to learn, protected from attack.”
On Monday last, the Boko Haram militants released a video that showed about 100 of the girls, who had been ostensibly “converted” to Islam, and said they were open to an exchange of the kidnapped students for the release of other Islamic terrorists imprisoned in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Government has said that “all options” are open, including negotiations or a possible military operation with foreign assistance.

Last Tuesday evening, US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated that the U.S. was doing all it could to find the girls. “With respect to Nigeria, our people are on the ground. We are proud to be contributing to the effort in order to help find these young women,” Kerry said in Washington.

“What I can guarantee is that we will make every effort possible in order to help free those young women. And we are there helping to do that now. I’m not going to discuss what mechanism or methodology may or may not be used in order to do so, except to say that we are committed to this effort.”

Towards this effort, the “Global Hawk”, the U.S. military’s high-altitude, long-endurance aerial drone, flew its first surveillance mission over Nigeria on Tuesday in search of the school girls. With a wingspan of just over 130 feet, the Global Hawk’s air time is a huge advantage in surveillance operations: It can remain airborne for 28 hours, and has a range of 8,700 miles and a top speed of 310 knots (357 mph), according to the US Air Force.

The Global Hawk also has a variety of surveillance systems, including radar, optical and infrared sensors.

The drone joins the manned propeller-driven MC-12 surveillance aircraft that has already been conducting surveillance flights over Nigeria. The MC-12 is considered a low-cost workhorse in short-range missions.
The MC-12 Liberty aircraft is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform.

The USA is a great nation, which generously lends its support to other nations in times of travail and grief, with unfortunately some instances of grievous interference that are counter-productive to the welfare of nation states, such as Guyana’s current debacle with arrogant and bullying interloper Brent Hardt.

Guyana’s President and the youths of the People’s Progressive Party are to be commended for lending their voices to this international appeal for the safe return of the innocent schoolgirls.

The PYO members have demonstrated more compassion, humanity and maturity than the inhumane elements of the collective opposition, who sent their agents provocateurs to disrupt the PYO vigil and politicize such an initiative; an act that resonates with shades of Guyana under the PNC watch, being revealed through the Rodney CoI, when no-one could hold a peaceful rally or vigil without being subjected to intimidatory and disruptive tactics of an adversarial nature to disrupt the activity.

Sometimes one needs to transform personal animosities for a greater good. Could any parent remain unmoved after envisioning what those poor young girls must be enduring, and the suffering of those who love them? Well, apparently Guyana’s opposition cabal can.

Come on, Guyana, our dirty laundry need not be aired at every forum. Leave aside personal prejudices and join with President Ramotar and the PYO in this international struggle against one of the worst human rights’ violations the world has ever seen.

extracted from: the Guyana Chronicle