Fifty girls believed to be among the Nigerian schoolchildren kidnapped at gunpoint two years ago have appeared in a video released by Boko Haram.
In the video, a masked man holding a gun tells the government that the militant group, which has murdered, raped and kidnapped thousands of people in northeast Nigeria, would only release the Chibok girls in return for the release of imprisoned Boko Haram fighters.
Of the 276 girls taken from their dormitories in April 2014, 217 are still missing. One of the girls, who identified herself as Maida Yakubu, spoke in the video of their suffering, but told their families to “take heart”.
“To our parents – please be patient,” Ms Yakubu said. “There is no kind of suffering we haven’t seen. Our sisters are injured, some of them have wounds on their heads and bodies. Tell the government to give them [Boko Haram] their people, so we can come home to you.
“We are all children. We don’t know what to do. The suffering is too much. Please try. We have been patient. The only thing that can be done is to give them their people so we can go home.”
As she spoke, the women sitting and standing behind her cried silently, wiping their faces on their black and grey abayas. One held a child in her arms. Black cloth had been draped behind them, making it impossible to know where the video was filmed.
The fighter in the video, who has not been identified, also had a message for the Chibok parents.
“They should know that their children are still in our hands,” he said, his face wrapped in camouflage cloth. Forty of the Chibok girls had been married, the fighter added, letting go of his gun only to wag his finger at the camera and hold a microphone under Ms Yakubu’s chin.
Government crackdown
He complained of government air strikes against Boko Haram camps. When Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, took power in May 2015, he vowed to crush Boko Haram within a year. While his forces have taken back large amounts of territory from the group, it has remained active, killing hundreds of people in suicide bombings.
Footage was attached to the video purporting to show some of the schoolgirls killed in government attacks. However, analysts said the girls’ injuries did not seem consistent with air strikes, but were more similar to machete wounds, suggesting that the footage could have been staged.
The fighter’s message to Mr Buhari was that if his troops tried to rescue the girls, Boko Haram would kill them. He said messages were relayed only through journalists and nobody was authorised to negotiate for Boko Haram.
“Don’t waste time – release our members in custody and we will release the girls,” he said.
He was reiterating a demand made in the first video of the girls, released a month after their capture. “I abducted your girls and I will sell them in the market,” Boko Haram’s then undisputed leader, Abubakar Shekau, said in the video.
Only one other video showing 15 girls, some of them confirmed as Chibok victims by their relatives, has emerged since. A month after the video was released in April, one of the girls escaped. Amina Nkeki was flown directly to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to meet Mr Buhari and be paraded in a press conference that commentators described as a “desperate bid to claim credit” for her release.
Battle for control
The latest video is believed to have been ordered by Shekau and comes as a battle rages for control of Boko Haram. Ten days ago, Islamic State, to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance last year, announced that its west African affiliate had a new leader. Apparently unhappy with Shekau’s attacks on mosques and Muslim markets, Isis appointed Abu Musab al-Barwani in his place.
Shekau released a video in which he appeared to admit defeat, saying in Hausa: “For me, the end has come.”
However, the latest video casts doubt on Shekau’s newfound meekness.
Ryan Cummings, a security analyst, said: “It [the video] refers to Boko Haram by their traditional name.” This name change could suggest that the girls are still being held by Shekau’s faction.
Nigeria’s minister of information, Lai Mohammed, said the government was in contact with those behind the video and working to secure the girls’ release.
“We are on top of the situation,” he said. “But we are being extremely careful, because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram. We are also being guided by the need to ensure the safety of the girls.
“Since this is not the first time we have been contacted over the issue, we want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be.”
Global campaign
The kidnapping of the girls led to a global campaign, with public figures including the US first lady, Michelle Obama, calling for their release with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
The Chibok girls are among the thousands of adults and children that Boko Haram has abducted during its seven-year insurgency.
Ms Yakubu’s mother, Esther, wrote a letter to her daughter in April in which she described the effect that the abduction had had on her life. It was turned into a video.
“From birth, I have been planning for you – your life, your education, your health. Before you were kidnapped,” Esther Yakubu said, tears running down her face. “Up till now, I have not seen or heard anything from you. But I believe that one day, I will fulfil that, my promise to you, and I will see you again, and my happiness, my joy, my life will be complete with you.”
Guardian service