Prime Minister David Cameron has
promised Britain "will do what we can" to
help find more than 200 kidnapped
Nigerian schoolgirls.
He made the comments as he held a sign
bearing the "#Bring Back Our Girls" slogan on
the BBC's Andrew Marr show.
Mr Cameron is the latest high-profile
supporter of the social media campaign after
US First Lady Michelle Obama was pictured
with a similar poster.
The Islamist militant group Boko Haram has
claimed the abductions.
During the programme, fellow guest Christiane
Amanpour, CNN's chief international
correspondent, handed Mr Cameron the sign
and asked if he would like to join the
campaign.
Taking it from her, he replied: "Happily."
Mr Cameron later tweeted: "Proud to support
#BringBackOurGirls."
'Immensely complicated'
He told the BBC One programme: "I rang the
Nigerian president to offer anything that
would be helpful and we agreed to send out a
team that includes some counter-terrorism
and intelligence experts to work alongside the
bigger American team that's going out there.
"We stand ready to do anything more that the
Nigerians would want."
He said it was unlikely Nigeria would ask for
British troops to help but added: "I said to
President Jonathan where we can help, please
ask, and we will see what we can do."
Mr Cameron also spoke of the importance of
tackling extremism around the world.
"This is not just a problem in Nigeria," he said.
"We're seeing this really violent extreme
Islamism – we see problems in Pakistan, we see
problems in other parts of Africa, problems in
the Middle East.
"Also, let's be frank, here in the UK there is
still too much support for extremism that we
have to tackle, whether it's in schools or
colleges or universities or wherever."
He recognised it was not an easy task to look
for the girls, who were taken from their
school in Chibok on 14 April.
'Information gaps'
"We can't just pile in and do whatever we'd
like," said Mr Cameron. "It's immensely
complicated because they are probably in this
deep area of jungle that is three times the size
of Wales.
"But it's good that efforts are being stepped
up and we'll do what we can."
The Foreign Office has said there are "large
information gaps" because of the scale and
nature of the incident.
"The priority for the team in the first instance
is establishing the facts such as the precise
identities of those taken and what has actually
happened to help Nigeria build a better
picture," a spokesman said.
Mrs Obama has described herself and Barack
Obama as being "outraged and heartbroken"
over the girls' abduction.
Speaking instead of her husband in the weekly
presidential address, she said: "What happened
in Nigeria was not an isolated incident. It's a
story we see every day as girls around the
world risk their lives to pursue their
ambitions."
The Pope has also tweeted his support ,
writing: "Let us all join in prayer for the
immediate release of the schoolgirls kidnapped
in Nigeria. #BringBackOurGirls."
During Sunday's programme, Amanpour told
Marr about the social media drive, saying: "On
the one hand, the hashtag is great because it
mobilises people.
"On the other hand, I'm a tiny bit concerned
it's a big bubble that then collapses with
nothing really being done."
However she said Nigeria is "100% saturated
with social media" and that "this (campaign) is
really getting to the people in Nigeria".
