Two Years On, Boko Haram Still Has More Than 200 Chibok Girls In Captivity

Nigeria ready to negotiate release of 83 more Chibok girls...
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Boko Haram ready to negotiate release of 83 more Chibok girls - government
Wednesday 19th October, 2016 - Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which last week freed 21 of more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls it kidnapped in April 2014 in northeast Nigeria, is willing to negotiate the release of 83 more of the girls, the president's spokesman said on Sunday.
Around 220 girls were taken from their school in 2014 in Chibok in northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. The main faction of Boko Haram led by the group's established figurehead Abubakar Shekau released 21 of the girls last week after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal. Boko Haram has split with a big group moving away from shadowy leader Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from the Iraq- and Syria-based Islamic State.

The part of Boko Haram under the control of Shekau said the rest of the kidnapped Chibok girls - estimated to be around 115 - were with the Islamic State-allied splinter group, according to Garba Shehu, spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari. "These 21 released girls are supposed to be tale bearers to tell the Nigerian government that this (Shekau) faction of Boko Haram has 83 more Chibok girls," Shehu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. "The faction (of Shekau) said it is ready to negotiate if the government is willing to sit down with them," said Shehu, adding that the state is prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram.

Boko Haram last year pledged allegiance to Islamic State, which in August named Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the group's leader for West Africa in its weekly magazine, al-Naba. But that appointment was later dismissed in a 10-minute audio clip on social media by a man purporting to be Shekau, exposing divisions within the jihadist group that has plagued Nigeria and neighbours Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Information Minister Lai Mohammed last week denied reports the state had swapped captured Boko Haram fighters for the release of the girls and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue.

In recent weeks, the Nigerian army has been carrying out an offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram. The militants controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.

Boko Haram ready to negotiate release of 83 more Chibok girls - government
 
Another missing kidnapped Chibok schoolgirl found with baby...
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Nigeria schoolgirl missing from Chibok 'found with baby'
Sat, 05 Nov 2016 - One of the Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram has been found with a baby, the military says.
The girl was discovered in Pulka in northern Borno state, spokesman Sani Usman said. The announcement came nearly a month after another 21 Chibok girls were freed after negotiations with Boko Haram Islamist militants. More than 270 schoolgirls were seized from the north-eastern town in April 2014, sparking international outrage.

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Grab from Boko Haram video with faces of girls blurred​

Mr Usman said the latest girl to be found was discovered by soldiers screening escapees from Boko Haram's base in the Sambisa forest. Boko Haram has been fighting a long insurgency in its quest for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The conflict is estimated to have killed more than 30,000 people. Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of other people during its seven-year insurgency in northern Nigeria and many people have been made homeless.

The freeing of 21 girls in October came after talks mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss government. Until then, there had only been one confirmed release of a student kidnapped from Chibok - a 19-year-old woman found by an army-backed vigilante group. More than 50 managed to escape on the day they were captured. Officials have promised to find the remaining 200 still being held.

Nigeria schoolgirl missing from Chibok 'found with baby' - BBC News
 
By now many have been sold as child brides and jihadi sex slaves...
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Finding Chibok Girls May Take Years, General Warns
April 17, 2017 - Nigeria's defense minister has warned it may take years to find all the Chibok girls kidnapped by the militant group Boko Haram.
Speaking to VOA's Hausa service, General Manir Dan Ali said the military is searching Boko Haram's hideouts in the Sambisa Forest, a vast area covering parts of three states in northeastern Nigeria. He noted that it took a long time for the United States to find 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. "It took the U.S. up to seven, eight, up to 10 years before they could get to bin Laden," he said. "We are continuing our campaigning in the Sambisa Forest in all its nooks and corners."

Ali spoke to VOA as activists mark the third anniversary of the girls' abductions. Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students from a secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok on April 13, 2014. There are 195 girls still missing. In 2014, Boko Haram seized control of much of northeastern Nigeria but has been driven back by a Nigerian-led, multinational military campaign. Despite the success, the government's inability to find the girls or determine their fate is overshadowing the military victory.

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An alleged Boko Haram soldier standing in front of a group of girls alleged to be some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls held since April 2014.​

Sheikh Nuru Khalid, a member of the influential Interfaith group that tries to ensure peace between Nigerian Muslims and Christians, says failure to find the girls would translate into a victory for Boko Haram. "We can never allow the terrorists to win the war. If they got [away] free with those girls, then they have relatively won the war," he said.

Human rights lawyer Abdu Bulama Bukar told VOA Hausa that the government needs to address the psychological trauma suffered by the families of the missing girls and other victims of Boko Haram brutality. "Married women have been made single again; kids have been orphaned; homeowners are without shelter; Nigerians have been turned into refugees in their own homeland," he said.

Finding Chibok Girls May Take Years, General Warns
 

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