Boko
Haram released a new video on Monday claiming to show the missing Nigerian
schoolgirls, alleging the teenagers had converted to Islam and would not be
released until all militant prisoners were freed.
The
group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, speaks on the video obtained by AFP for 17
minutes before showing what he said were the girls, in Muslim dress and praying
in an undisclosed rural location.
A total
of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in
Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still
missing.
The
footage shows about 130 girls in black and grey full-length hijabs sitting on
scrubland near trees, reciting the first chapter of the Muslim holy book, the
Koran, and holding their palms upwards in prayer.
Three of
the girls are interviewed. Two say they were Christian and had converted while
one said she was Muslim. Most of the group were seated. The girls appeared calm
and one said that they had not been harmed.
There was
no indication of when the video was taken, although the quality is better than
on previous occasions and at one point an armed man is seen in shot with a
hand-held video camera.
Boko
Haram has been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency in Nigeria’s mainly
Muslim north since 2009, attacking schools teaching a “Western” curriculum,
churches and government targets.
Civilians,
though, have borne the brunt of recent violence, with more than 1,500 killed
this year alone while tens of thousands have been displaced after their homes
and businesses were razed.
Nigeria’s
government has been criticised for its lack of immediate response to the kidnapping
but has been forced to act after Shekau threatened to sell the girls as slaves.
President
Goodluck Jonathan has now accepted help from the United States, Britain,
France, China and Israel, which have sent specialist teams to help in the
search effort.
In the
video, Shekau appears in front of a lime green canvas backdrop wearing combat
fatigues and carrying an automatic weapon. Shekau does not appear in the same
shot as the girls at any point during the 27-minute video.
Speaking
in Hausa and Arabic, he restates his claim of responsibility made in a video
released last Monday and said the girls had converted to Islam.
“These
girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with… we have indeed liberated them.
We have indeed liberated them. Do you know we have liberated them? These girls
have become Muslims,” he said.
The
militant leader said that Boko Haram’s brothers in arms had been held in prison
for up to five years and suggested that the girls would be released if the
fighters were freed.
“We will
never release them (the girls) until after you release our brethren. Here I
mean those girls who have not submitted (converted to Islam),” he added.
Boko
Haram has used kidnapping of women and young girls in the past and Shekau
indicated that more were being held.
click on link to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9sJnldKRg8
click on link to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9sJnldKRg8
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