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Nigerian Parents ID Daughters on Boko Haram Video
Nigerian Parents ID Daughters on Boko Haram Video
By VOA News
13 May 2014
ABUJA — The father of one of the nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria says he recognized his daughter in a video released by militant group Boko Haram.
The man, whose first name is Shettima, told VOA’s Hausa Service Tuesday that he spotted his 18-year-old daughter in the video and believes he also recognized a neighbor’s daughter.
The man, who is a resident of Chibok, the northeasern Nigerian village where the girls were kidnapped, said he did not want his last name nor his daughter’s name publicly released for safety reasons.
The development comes after the mother of another kidnapped schoolgirl identified her daughter in the same video.
Dumoma Mpur, the parent-teachers association chairman at Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok told Reuters the woman watched the video on television Monday evening and spotted her daughter among the girls sitting on the ground and wearing veils.
“The video got parents apprehensive again after watching it but the various steps taken by the governments and the coming of the foreign troops is boosting our spirit, even though I have not seen the any one soldier in Chibok yet,” Mpur told Reuters by telephone.
Boko Haram video
On Monday, Boko Haram released a 17-minute video that shows about 100 girls dressed in black and gray full-length hijabs, sitting in an undisclosed rural area.
Most of the girls kidnapped from a Chibok school last month are Christian. But the video shows girls reciting Muslim scriptures and holding their hands for prayers.
In the video, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claims the girls have been “liberated” by becoming Muslims. He says the girls will not be released until the group’s imprisoned fighters are freed in Nigeria. It was not immediately apparent when the video was filmed.
The director general of Nigeria’s National Orientation Agency, Mike Omeri, said officials are studying the situation, and all options remain open to free the missing girls.
In an interview with VOA’s English to Africa service, Nigerian political analyst Kabiru Mato said the government should consider negotiations with the militant group if it would ensure the students’ safe return.
“If apparently that is the only thing that will ensure that these girls are brought back to their parents, their families, then negotiation is the way out,” Mato said.
International criticism
The kidnapping has drawn international condemnation. On Tuesday, demonstrators rallied near Paris’ Eiffel Tower where they called for the girls’ safe return.
Meanwhile, the United States is flying surveillance aircraft over Nigeria to help in the effort to find more than girls.
The United Nations also sent a high-level representative to Nigeria to support the government’s efforts to find the schoolgirls. It says Special Representative for West Africa Said Djinnit will meet with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and other senior government officials over the next few days.
Boko Haram kidnapped about 300 girls from the school. Some managed to escape, but about 276 remain missing. The militant group has threatened to “sell” the girls on the human trafficking market.
The Islamist militant group is blamed for thousands of deaths in bombing and shooting attacks during the past five years. The militants say they are fighting to establish a strict Islamic state in Muslim-majority northern Nigeria.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters
© VOANews.com 2014
Featured photo courtesy of NBC News
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