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What We Know Now About The Kidnapped Nigerian Girls

What Happened?

  • As many as 300 teenaged girls were abduct­ed from their school in Nigeria on April 15 by the Islamic mil­i­tant ter­ror orga­ni­za­tion Boko Haram. The group is based in Nigeria and has car­ried out attacks on schools before.
  • Some girls man­aged to escape, but many are believed to have been trans­port­ed into neigh­bor­ing Cameroon or Chad.
  • The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has said he plans to sell the girls into mar­riages and sex slav­ery, but now says he is will­ing to exchange them for impris­oned militants
  • Videos released by Boko Haram today show about 100 of the girls wear­ing hijabs and recit­ing the Koran.
  • Abubakar Shekau, the group’s leader, says in the video he will­ing to exchange the girls for impris­oned Boko Haram militants.
  • The video offered the first glimpse of hope for Nigerian fam­i­lies that the girls may be returned safely.

What Is the World Doing to Rescue the Girls?

  • The pres­i­dent of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has received crit­i­cism for wait­ing weeks to ask for inter­na­tion­al assis­tance to recov­er the girls. He now says the gov­ern­ment is doing all it can to find them and bring them home alive.
  • A team of U.S. experts is in Nigeria to assist the gov­ern­ment in try­ing to res­cue the girls. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the team con­sist­ed of law enforce­ment, intel­li­gence and mil­i­tary experts who will use counter-ter­ror­ism efforts in Nigeria.
  • Meanwhile, Nigerian peace nego­tia­tor Shehu Sani told ABC News that he has pro­posed a for­mal nego­ti­a­tion between Nigerian Islamic cler­ics and Boko Haram that would see the girls returned with­in a week in exchange for insur­gents cur­rent­ly impris­oned in Nigeria. He said the fact that Boko Haram threat­ened to sell the girls rather than kill them is a pos­i­tive sign that they are open to negotiations.

Could the Kidnapping Have Been Prevented?