By Edward Kafita
THE Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) has taken note of disturbing trends emerging in Nigeria with the Boko Haram terrorist group abducting 230 young schoolgirls and threatening to sell them off or forcefully marry them off to members of Boko Haram.
African girl child, Africa our motherland, we are very much pained by these developments which have created great discomfort in Nigeria and West Africa, particularly in the areas where the terrorist group, Boko Haram, is said to be operating.
The SPYL therefore calls on African leaders, the African Union particularly, to immediately convene to establish an African force that will go after Boko Haram to arrest the situation, arrest the perpetrators and return the young Nigerian girls to their parents or to school from where they have been abducted. It is worrying that Boko Haram has been causing deaths of innocent people since 2009 but to date they are allowed to roam free and cause confusion.
The Progressive Swapo Party Youth League is worried that the African Union’s silence on the Boko Haram activities and those of other terrorist groups on the African continent are left unchallenged. This is the time for African leaders to make their voices heard and come to the rescue of the vulnerable and young people of Africa.
We also call on all the progressive youth all over Africa to revive the solidarity culture, just like our forefathers did during our liberation struggles across Africa. African youth should condemn these cowardly and barbaric acts that are separating families and causing uncertainty among many people in our continent. Africans should learn to initiate efforts that are capable of bring peace to the continent without fear. African government should not wait for the West to give them orders on what conflict to engage like we have seen in Libya and many other countries in the continent.
The SPYL would like to remind Africa and the world that 20 years ago, Rwanda suffered the loss of around one million people while Africa and the world reduced themselves to spectators. We have learned a lesson from the Rwanda Genocide and cannot be bystanders while our own African people are killed, abducted and forcefully conscripted to fight on the side of terrorist groups. We therefore implore the AU to act fast to eradicate these criminal acts committed against innocent people, especially the youth of Africa.
• Edward Kondjeni Kafita is the SPYL secretary for international affairs.