US unveils "immediate" assistance for Nigeria in hunt for kidnapped girls

The White House says its sending a team to Nigeria as soon as possible to help in the hunt for nearly 300 kidnapped teenage girls.

Another 8 were reportedly seized on Tuesday by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The move comes after activists launched a protest campaign, urging western governments to do more to help rescue the girls.

From Washington, Simon Marks reports.

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Suddenly, "time is of the essence".

That was the phrase used at the White House on Tuesday by spokesman Jay Carney, as he unveiled President Obama's plan to send an assistance team to Nigeria to work alongside the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Military and law enforcement teams from the US will advise the Nigerians on matters including hostage negotiation, and intelligence gathering.

Secretary of State John Kerry, briefing reporters after a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Baroness Catherine Ashton.

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The unfolding US action came fully 3 weeks after the teenagers were seized by Boko Haram….but just 48 hours after a video emerged of the Islamist group's leader finally admitting he orchestrated the attack…and was now planning to sell the girls on the open market.

It also came on the heels of weekend of protests in New York, Washington DC and other major cities demanding more government action, and a growing social media campaign to - in the words of the Twitter hash-tag - Bring Our Girls Home.

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Malika Saada Saar is the Executive Director of the Washington-based Human Rights Project for Girls.

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The sudden attention being paid to the plight of the Nigerian schoolgirls by the Obama administration is mirrored closely by the sudden attention of the US media.

For weeks, the major US news networks all-but-ignored the kidnappings.

Now they can't get enough of the story.

At the White House on Tuesday night, President Obama was supposed to be giving a round of interviews to local TV stations about climate change.

Instead, he found himself being asked about Nigeria.

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And it isn't just the President who is suddenly energized on the subject.

Washington reporters received a flurry of e-mails from members of Congress, many of them preparing resolutions aimed at condemning Boko Haram for what Secretary of State John Kerry is now calling an unconscionable crime.

The White House urged the Nigerians to use "all available resources" to secure the girls' safe return…but the move comes just days after US officials suggested Boko Haram had moved the teenagers beyond Nigeria's borders.

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