Mass Abduction Of Nigerian Schoolgirls: Latest Updates And Highlights

More than 60 women and girls abducted in April by suspected Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria have escaped their captors, sources have told the AFP new agency. Local vigilante Abbas Gava said he had “received an alert from my colleagues ... that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home.”

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A high-level security source in the Borno state capital Maiduguri, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, confirmed the escape.

Gava, a senior official of the local vigilantes in Borno State who are working closely with security officials, told journalists the women escaped when their captors went out to fight. “They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation,”1 he said.

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Clashes took place between the Islamists and the army late on Friday after an attack by the insurgents in the town of Damboa, where more than 50 of them were killed, the army had said. Spokesmen for the armed forces or the government could not be reached on Sunday for comment.

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“It’s 83 days today that the girls have been abducted,” activist Aisha Yesufu told the press after about 50 members of the Bring Back Our Girls movement tried on Sunday to march to the presidential palace in Abuja but were asked by security forces to turn back. “We have been coming out for 68 days and nobody has really listened to us,” Yesufu told reporters after the march.

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That is why the group “decided that we should just take the protest back to the President so that he will know that we are still out there after the 68 days that we have been coming out daily”. Security experts say the overstretched and under-resourced military is incapable of fighting an effective counter-insurgency against the Boko Haram militants, who have killed thousands in their five-year campaign for an independent Islamic state in the north.

A top Nigerian military official believes he knows the whereabouts of girls kidnapped last month, but he says the nation's military will not use force to try to rescue them, a state news report said Monday. "We want our girls back. I can tell you that our military can and will do it, but where they are held, can we go there with force?" asked Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.

"Nobody should say Nigerian military does not know what it is doing; we can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back." His comments were reported by the News Agency of Nigeria, a state-run news service.

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Badeh continued: "The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you. "We cannot come and tell you the military secret, just leave us alone, we are working to get the girls back," he reportedly said.

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Nigeria said it was willing to talk to Boko Haram militants, as the United States sent its top Africa general for talks on the rescue mission of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls. The governor of Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, Kashim Shettima, confirmed that all of the girls shown in the latest video released by the militant Islamist group had been identified as students in the school attacked in Chibok last month.

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President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday requested a six-month extension to the state of emergency declared in Borno and two neighbouring states a year ago because of the "daunting" security situation. Special duties minister Taminu Turaki restated the Nigerian government's position that it was open to negotiations on ending Boko Haram's increasingly bloody five-year insurgency. Turaki, who last year headed a committee tasked with pursuing an amnesty pact with some of the group's fighters, told AFP: "Nigeria has always been willing to dialogue with the insurgents.

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"We are willing to carry that dialogue on any issue, including the girls kidnapped in Chibok, because certainly we are not going to say that (the abduction) is not an issue." Nigeria's interior minister had previously dismissed a suggestion from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a video released on Monday that the girls could be swapped for imprisoned militants. But the military later said it would "explore all options" to end the crisis.

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The US has revealed it is flying manned surveillance missions over Nigeria to try to find more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The US is also sharing commercial satellite imagery with the Nigerian government, officials said. It comes after militants released a video of about 130 girls, saying they could be swapped for jailed fighters.

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"We have shared commercial satellite imagery with the Nigerians and are flying manned ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) assets over Nigeria with the government's permission," said a senior administration official, who declined to be named. A team of about 30 US experts - members of the FBI and defence and state departments - is in Nigeria to help with the search.

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Other officials, quoted by Reuters, said the US was also considering deploying unmanned "drone" aircraft to aid the search. US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier on Monday that intelligence experts were closely examining the Boko Haram video for clues that might help locate the girls.

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An Islamist extremist leader says nearly 300 abducted schoolgirls will not be seen again until the Nigerian government frees his detained fighters. A video from Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram terrorist network that was received Monday purports to show some of the girls and young women chanting Koranic verses in Arabic. The barefoot girls look frightened and sad and sit huddled together wearing gray Islamic veils.

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Some Christians among them say they have converted to Islam. If confirmed, this would be the first video evidence of the girls and young women since more than 300 were kidnapped from a northeastern school in the predawn hours of April 15.

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“I swear to almighty Allah, you will not see them again until you release our people that you have captured,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says as he cradles an assault rifle in the video.

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Meanwhile, Nigerian Interior Minister Abba Moro has said that swapping prisoners in exchange for girls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram is an option that is "not on the table".

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Nigerian police have offered a $300,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of 276 girls kidnapped by Islamist rebels three weeks ago in a sign that the government has begun to react to growing pressure at home and abroad. The call for help follows the US and Britain offering military and technical support to Nigeria to hunt down the group, which abducted a second group of schoolgirls on Monday, as Barack Obama led a mounting international outcry.

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A statement from the Nigerian police high command said on Wednesday anyone who "volunteers credible information that will lead to the location and rescue of the female students" was eligible for the reward. It said "any information given would be treated anonymously and with utmost confidentiality".

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World powers, including the United States and China, have joined in the search for the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram Islamists who have also killed hundreds in the country's northeast this week. Amid global outrage over the kidnapping of the teenagers, the United States, Britain and France are sending specialist teams to Nigeria. China promised to supply "any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services" to Nigeria.

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Nigeria's response to the kidnappings has been widely criticised, including by activists and parents of the hostages who say the military's search operation has been inept so far. President Goodluck Jonathan's administration has sought to appear more engaged with the plight of the hostages in recent days, especially after Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau released a video threatening to sell the girls as 'slaves'.

skynews.com.au

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has accepted a definite offer from US President Barrack Obama to help locate and rescue the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno three weeks ago by the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram.

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The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said in a statement here Tuesday that the offer from President Obama was conveyed to Jonathan by US Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone conversation Tuesday afternoon. The statement added that the assistance included the deployment of US security personnel and assets in collaboration with their Nigerian counterparts for the search and rescue operation.

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"Mr Kerry assured President Jonathan that the US is wholly committed to giving Nigeria all required support and assistance to save the abducted girls and bring the reign of terror unleashed on parts of the country by Boko Haram to an end," the statement said. It said President Jonathan thanked Kerry for the telephone call and for the assistance.

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The statement, however, said that the president had told Kerry that Nigeria's security agencies, who were already working at full capacity to find and rescue the abducted girls, would appreciate the deployment of American counter-insurgency know-how and expertise in support of their efforts. It further said that the president also met the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs and heads of national security agencies in continuation of the national efforts to find and rescue the abducted girls.

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Fears for the fate of more than 200 Nigerian girls turned even more nightmarish Monday when the leader of the Islamist militant group that kidnapped them announced plans to sell them. "I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah," a man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video first obtained by Agence France-Presse.

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"There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women," he continued, according to a CNN translation from the local Hausa language.

"Girls, you should go and get married," he said. The outrageous threat means the girls' parents' worst fears could be realized. Parents have avoided speaking to the media for fear their daughters may be singled out for reprisals. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the video "does appear legitimate."

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The tape won't intimidate or deter Nigeria from efforts to save the kidnapped girls, the Nigerian government said. "It is disheartening that someone would make such a terrible boast," Doyin Okupe, spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan, said in an interview with CNN. "It is to be expected of terrorists," he added. "No group can affect our resolve. We will see this through to the end. We have the commitment and capacity to get this done. No matter what this takes, we will get these girls." On Sunday, Jonathan vowed, "Wherever these girls are, we'll get them out."

Militants seized about 230 girls in the dead of the night at a high school in the nation's far northeast, a hotbed for Islamist group Boko Haram. Armed men herded the girls out of bed and forced them into trucks on April 16 in the town of Chibok. The convoy of trucks then disappeared into the dense forest bordering Cameroon. Roughly 200 girls are still missing, although the authorities and parents differ on the number.

During their nine-hour trek, they never saw a single soldier in the forest where authorities believe the militants took the girls, said Enoch Mark, whose daughter and two nieces were among the kidnapped.

"A total of 230 parents registered the names of their daughters who were missing on the day of the kidnap," said Asabe Kwambura, principal of the Government Girls Secondary School. "From my records, 43 girls have so far escaped on their own from their kidnappers. We still have 187 girls missing."

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Nigerians have rallied for days to criticize the government's handling of the rescue efforts. Hundreds wept and chanted "bring back our girls" during protests in the capital of Abuja on Wednesday. A day later, protesters gathered in Lagos.

On Wednesday, hundreds of their mothers and countrywomen marched to the National Assembly in the capital, Abuja, to protest a lack of action, the Associated Press reports. A similar march was held in Kano, in the country's north. “The leaders of both houses said they will do all in their power, but we are saying two weeks already have passed, we want action now,” activist Mercy Asu Abang told the AP. “We want our girls to come home alive — not in body bags,” she said.

One parent, who asked not to be named, said they were grateful for the support of Nigerians, as other marches are held to put pressure on the authorities. "We want to see more effort," she said.

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A community leader for Borno state, where Chibok is, said the group is demanding a ransom for the students' release, the AP says. That comes as other stories are told of the girls' fate: The Guardian reports that some relatives have been told that the girls have been married off, and the BBC reports that some of them have been taken to neighboring countries.

The name translates to "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language. The militant group says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south. In recent years, its attacks have intensified in an apparent show of defiance amid the nation's military onslaught. Its ambitions appear to have expanded to the destruction of the Nigerian government.

The group was founded 12 years ago by Mohammed Yusuf, a charismatic cleric who called for a pure Islamic state in Nigeria. Police killed him in 2009 in an incident captured on video and posted to the Internet. The crackdown, some say, made Boko Haram more violent and defiant.
Abubakar Shekau took control of the group and escalated the attacks. It murdered and kidnapped Westerners, and started a bombing campaign that targeted churches, mosques and government buildings.

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The militant group has bombed schools, churches and mosques; kidnapped women and children; and assassinated politicians and religious leaders alike. It made headlines again recently with the abduction of 230 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. After a fierce gunbattle with soldiers, the militants herded the girls out of bed and onto buses, and sped off. Only a few dozen of the girls have escaped.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau first threatened to treat captured women and girls as slaves in a video released in May 2013. It fueled concern at the time that the group was adhering to the ancient Islamic belief that women captured during war are slaves with whom their "masters" can have sex, correspondents say.

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Witnesses have seen militants in dozens of vehicles headed to nearby Cameroon, said Ayuba Alamson, whose two nieces were among the kidnapped. In a statement Thursday, Nigeria's Defense Ministry said it's committed to the search.

"A lot of information has been received in the efforts at securing the freedom of the girls. The armed forces assures all Nigerians that it will continue to appraise every information received during this operation accordingly," it said. "While it will not relent in its efforts in this search, the armed forces is mindful of the fact that some of the information with which it has been inundated are actually a ploy to distract it from its goal of dealing with terrorism and other violent crimes aimed at crippling the nation."

"This is a delicate situation that requires careful handling," Kubo said. "When you have heavily armed men holding close to 200 girls hostage, you have to be very careful in your approach so as not to risk the safety of these girls you want to rescue.

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He said authorities are withholding information for safety reasons. "It is a security issue and we just can't be divulging all the efforts we are making to get these girls freed," the education commissioner said.

David Peter, a sound engineer, music producer and recording artist in Lagos, sent CNN an iReport in which he calls on the government to do more. "If you're not safe anywhere in the world, you should be safe in your house, in your own back yard. We mandate the federal government to bring back our daughters, and our children," he said.

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The campaign for more to be done to rescue over 200 schoolgirls abducted by militants in northern Nigeria is attracting growing attention on social media. Figures show the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag, first used on 23 April, has generated more than 360,000 tweets and retweets so far.

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Of the 160,000 tweets from users who specify a location, more than half have come from Nigeria, followed by the US, the United Kingdom, South Africa and other countries, according to Crimson Hexagon data. High-profile pop stars such as US singer Mary J Blige and the UK's Jessie J have picked up on the story, and have generated thousands of re-tweets.

Nigerian Twitter users express exasperation at the government's failure to rescue the girls, who have reportedly been taken to Sambisa forest where the Islamist group, Boko Haram, is known to have fortified camps. User @femiTRIPP urged Nigerian President Goodluck to at least be seen to be doing something about Boko Haram:

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