Three years on and 200 girls still held

ABUJA: Nigerians yesterday marked three years since the mass abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls by Boko Haram extremists amid anger that government efforts to negotiate their freedom appear to have stalled.

Activists have urged President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to do more to free the nearly 200 schoolgirls who remain captive.

Nigeria in October announced the release of 21 of the Chibok schoolgirls after negotiations with the extremist group, and it said another group of 83 girls would be released “very soon”.

No one has been freed since then. The failure of Nigeria’s former government to free the girls sparked a global Bring Back Our Girls movement and was a factor in Buhari’s 2015 election win over former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Buhari late last year announced that Boko Haram had been “crushed”, but it continues to carry out deadly suicide bombings, often strapping them to young women. Children have been used to carry out 27 attacks in the first three months of this year, already nearing last year’s total of 30, the UN children’s agency said this week.

Boko Haram’s seven-year Islamic uprising has killed more than 20 000 people and driven 2.6 million from their homes, with millions facing starvation because of the disruption in markets and agriculture. – AP