More than three weeks have passed since members of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram burst into a girls’ school in the northeast of the country and kidnapped hundreds of girls. It took at least two of those weeks before international attention turned to the crisis, and even longer for the Nigerian government to sharpen its response and accept help rescuing the girls.
Among the many questions surrounding the attack, one of the most puzzling is why Nigeria failed to react effectively for so long.
By the time Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan at last spoke publicly about the kidnapping, the captors and their hostages already had a head start long enough to have crossed borders and disappeared far into the jungle.