The United States Government has disclosed that United Nations sanctions against the terror group, Boko Haram could come as early as this week.
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman made the revelation whilst speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the summit hosted by French President Francois Hollande in Paris last Saturday.
Sherman said, “Boko Haram is its own terrorist group, and the United States has designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. In this day and age, there is probably no terror group that does not have some links somehow, even if tenuous, to some other organisation. But for the most part, we treat Boko Haram as its own terror organisation.
“When you have sanctions at the UN, it does do asset freezes, travel freezes, a variety of things. It depends on how the designation is done. But I imagine this will happen rather quickly. Quite frankly, I can’t imagine any country who would not support this designation.”
She also stated that the US would provide intelligence and not troops, stressing that once the girl were located, the US doubted the ability of the Nigerian army to retrieve the girls.
“If it were to be a rescue operation, that’s a very specific skill set and not every army in the world has that skill set. I know that there are some training, that have gone on with units of the military in Nigeria to build those skills, in other words, special forces skills. Whether they’d be able to attempt a rescue, I think it would just depend on the circumstances,” Sherman said.
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