UK Ministry of
Defense says it has information about the missing Chibok girls but cannot share
it with Nigeria because according to them, revealing details of what it found about
the whereabouts of the abducted girls would clearly damage its relationship
with Nigeria and other allies.
According to Punch, this revelation came after an independent security
organization, Security In Africa, who planned to storm the Sambisa forest to
rescue the girls, wrote a letter to UK government asking for any information
they had on the missing girls. Continue...Part of the letter written by Security In Africa founder, Ben Oguntala reads;
"We seek to know
the results and reports of the British Armed Forces, the details of where
they searched and the results of their findings. We also seek to have the
details of the technology, technique or methodology used in the search and the
consequential results”.
However a response to
the request letter by the UK Ministry of Defence Permanent Joint
Headquarters in Middlesex, dated February 25th stated that the UK will not
be able to release any information on its findings about the Chibok girls as
some of the information requested for has the potential of adversely affecting
their relations with their allies
"The information falls entirely
within the scope of the qualified exemption provided for at section 27
(International Relations) of the FOIA and has been withheld. Section 27 is a
qualified exemption and is subject to public interest testing which means that
the information requested can only be withheld if the public interest in doing
so outweighs the public interest in disclosure. Section 27(1)(a), (1)(c) and
(2) have been applied because some of the information has the potential to
adversely affect relations with our allies. The Public Interest Test concluded
that whilst release would increase public understanding and confidence in the
relation the United Kingdom has with other international states in its
assistance with operations, the balance of the public interest lay in
withholding the information you desire. We have considered it necessary to
apply the higher level of prejudice against release of the exempted information
at the higher level of ‘would’ rather than ‘would be likely to’ adversely
affect relations with our allies.” the letter read
The
UK Defence ministry however shared information on the technology, methodology
and technique they used during the search of the Chibok girls. According to the
letter, RAF Sentinel R1 and Tornado aircraft were used to “provide imagery and
other data as part of a combined effort with Nigeria and other nations.”
The
Sentinel R1 is the UK Royal Air Force’s only long-range wide area battlefield
surveillance asset, providing critical intelligence and target tracking
information to British and Coalition forces.
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