The
mother of one of the Chibok girls kidnapped more than two years ago by
Nigeria’s Islamic extremists on Sunday saw the first proof her daughter
is alive — a video of her begging Nigeria’s government to exchange
detained militants for the girls’ freedom.
Chibok
community leader Pogu Bitrus to The Associated Press the video was
being watched at the weekly rally of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign
at Unity Fountain in Abuja, the capital.
Some
of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls have been killed by Nigerian
military air strikes, according to a new video appearing to come from
Boko Haram, which shows one kidnap victim pleading for authorities to
bow to the extremists’ demands that they release detained militants in
return for the girls.
It’s not clear how many schoolgirls have died among the 218 who remain missing.
The
video posted Sunday on Twitter shows a young woman, covered in a hijab
with just her face showing, identified as one of the students abducted
from a remote school in northeastern Nigeria in April 2014. She claims
that some of her kidnapped classmates died in aerial bombardments by the
Nigerian Air Force. She also said that 40 have been “married” to
fighters.
The
video shows a militant warning in the Hausa language that if President
Muhammadu Buhari’s government battles Boko Haram with firepower, the
girls won’t be seen again.
“Presently,
some of the girls are crippled, some are terribly sick and some of
them, as I had said, died during bombardment by the Nigerian military,”
the fighter says, appearing before a group of more than 40 young women
in hijabs, some holding babies.
“If
our members in detention are not freed, let the government and parents
of the Chibok girls know that they will never find these girls again,”
he said.
The
video, cited by the SITE Intelligence Group, was posted by Ahmad
Salkida, a Nigerian journalist known to have good contacts in Boko
Haram. Salkida says he was given the video by associates of Abubakar
Shekau, who is in a leadership battle with a lieutenant named by the
Islamic State group as the new leader of what it calls its West Africa
Province.
The
mass abduction brought Boko Haram to the world’s attention and even got
the participation of U.S. first lady Michelle Obama in the #Bring Back
Our Girls social media campaign, promising her husband would do all in
his power to help liberate them.
The
government came under increased pressure from parents and Bring Back
Our Girls campaigners after the May escape of one young woman, a proof
of life that they said should encourage the military and government to
redouble rescue efforts. The escapee said some of the girls had died but
scores remained in captivity under heavy guard.
Sunday’s video is another proof of life.
“The
girl in the video spoke in the Chibok language and identified her
mother by name. Her mother has now seen the video and identified her
daughter,” Chibok leader Pogu Bitrus told the AP.
The young woman in the video, probably speaking under duress, begs for help.
“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. Some are wounded. Every day we are in pains and
suffering, so are our babies … No one cares for us.
“Please
go and beg the government of Nigeria to release the members of our
abductors so that they too can free us to let us come home.”
The video goes on to show bodies from an alleged air raid, including that of a girl whose eyes flicker open briefly.
Nigeria’s
Air Force has reported near-daily bombardments of Boko Haram camps and
the military of increased ground assaults in which they have freed
thousands of captives, though none of the Chibok girls.
Boko
Haram has been forced out of most towns and has turned to assaulting
remote villages and using suicide bombers to attack soft targets such as
mosques and marketplaces.
More
than 20,000 people have been killed in the 7-year-old Islamic uprising
that has spread from Nigeria to neighboring countries and driven 2.2
million people from their homes.
Aid
workers say there is a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in newly freed
but still dangerous areas where half a million people are starving and
babies dying daily. There has also been a resurgence of polio in areas
that had been under Boko Haram’s control
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