The United States and Britain have offered support to Nigeria for the rescue of over 200 schoolgirls abducted by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
(Transcript from World News Radio)
The girls were kidnapped last month, and over the weekend another eight were reportedly kidnapped from a village in the country's northeast.
Nigeria says it's happy to accept help in rescuing the girls, but a former ambassador to Africa says she has grave concerns for their welfare.
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As New York protesters continue to call for action, United States Secretary of State John Kerry has reached out to Nigeria.
"Our embassy in Abuja is prepared to form a coordination cell that could provide expertise on intelligence, investigations and hostage negotiations and help facilitate information sharing and victim assistance. And President Goodluck Jonathan was very happy to receive this offer and ready to move on it immediately."
Over 200 girls were taken from their boarding school three weeks ago.
Now reports claim more have since been kidnapped from a village in Nigeria's embattled northeast.
A man claiming to be the chief of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has claimed responsibility and says he intends to sell his hostages.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan says he's confident the girls will be recovered, but his spokesman says they will appreciate U-S help.
"Mr Kerry assured President Jonathan that the United States is fully committed to giving Nigeria all required support and assistance to save the abducted girls and bring the reign of terror unleashed on parts of the country by Boko Haram to an end."
Britain has offered Nigeria what it calls "practical" help, with the Foreign Office saying it's part of a coordinated international support effort.
The Nigerian government has been criticised for its slow response to the abduction and international pressure has mounted during the past few days.
Nigerian Pastor Oluremi Oshikinlu says swifter action would have been taken if a mass kidnapping had occurred in a Western country.
"We must let the world know that the blood of Nigerians is just as important as the blood of any other human being on the face of the earth."
Australia's former Ambassador and High Commissioner in Africa, Helen Ware says the claim by Nigerian authorities that they can't find the girls is extraordinary.
"It's quiet remarkable to think of a country where unfortunately the police are either so inefficient or so corrupt that they can't find somebody who has got an armoured vehicle without assistance. That said, there are two problems: one is the extensive nature of the land; and the possibility that the girls have been taken across an international border. It may be that the girls are no longer in Nigeria."
Professor Ware describes Boko Haram as a series of small groups, or cells, that follow a fundamentalist edict of Islam.
She says little is known about the group, except that one of its early leaders was a university professor and that its recruits are mainly men disillusioned with the state of the economy in Nigeria.
"There are a lot of understandably unemployed very unhappy young men who want to rule the world and make a mark on the world and so on, so they have a very wide possibility for recruiting people and their common feature is their belief in Islam and a desire to create a different sort of Nigeria."
Professor Ware says she has no doubt the group is prepared to act on its threat to sell the girls.
She says Nigeria has a high prevalence of polygamy, and paying for a bride is common.
"Sadly I don't think they will find them safe and sound. Some of the girls did escape and over time others may escape after all even if you force someone into a marriage unless you're going to keep them locked up they will have some opportunities of escaping. But sadly they might have been forced into a marriage before that."
Professor Ware says the level of support the US is offering to Nigeria is significantly less than what has been provided to Ugandan forces in the hunt for accused warlord Joseph Kony.
The US first got involved in the search for Joseph Kony in 2011, but he is yet to be found.
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