VIDEO SHOWS KIDNAPPED CHIBOK GIRLS
First visual proof so many are still alive since 2014
LONDON • Boko Haram demanded the freedom of captured terrorists in exchange for the release of the Chibok schoolgirls Sunday as a new video from Nigeria’s Islamist gunmen showed 50 of their captives.
The girls who were kidnapped from a Christian school in the town of Chibok in 2014 are shown swathed in dark Islamic veils, standing against the backdrop of a black tarpaulin.
In the video, one of the girls identifies herself as Maida Yakubu and says in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria: “What I can say is that our parents should take heart. Talk to the government so that we can be allowed to go home.”
She adds: “Oh you, my people and our parents, you just have to please come to our rescue. We are suffering here, the aircraft have come to bombard us and killed many of us.”
The girl adds: “We are really suffering — there is no food to eat, no good water to drink here.”
A masked commander then demands the freedom of Boko Haram terrorists. “We don’t want to do anything with these girls — our demand remains the same,” he says. “We want the government to release our fighters who have been in detention for ages; otherwise, we will never release these girls.”
The video provides the first visual proof that scores of the girls are still alive since a film in May 2014, a month after the mass abduction. Another video, which emerged in April this year, showed only 15 of the girls. The group is believed to have been forcibly converted to Islam; some have been sold or given to commanders as concubines.
Boko Haram raided a Christian school in Chibok on April 14 2014, abducting 276 girls, of whom about 200 are still believed to be in captivity.
But since then the Islamist gunmen have suffered a series of defeats.
In 2014, Boko Haram controlled about 50,000 square kilometres of territory in northern Nigeria, an area about as large as Nova Scotia,
TALK TO THE GOVERNMENT SO THAT WE CAN BE ALLOWED TO GO HOME.
with a population of at least 1.7 million people. The black flag of jihad flew over scores of towns and villages.
Since then, Nigeria’s government has gone on the offensive, recapturing almost all of the population centres that were previously under its flag.
Its campaign benefited from military advice, training and intelligence provided by Britain and the U.S., along with the firepower of the armies of neighbouring African states, particularly Chad.
The result is that Boko Haram has returned to being an insurgent movement and terrorist organization, rather than a group that governs territory.
The gunmen have also split, with one faction of Boko Haram pledging allegiance to ISIL.
The Chibok schoolgirls are believed to be in the hands of the rival, non-ISIL faction, led by Boko Haram’s long-standing commander, Abubakar Shekau.