WUNRN
Nigeria - Dozens More Girls Abducted
by Nigerian Extremists
By
HARUNA UMAR and MICHELLE FAUL Associated Press
Dozens of girls
and young women are being abducted by Islamic extremists in northeast
On Oct. 17,
But there have
been a number of kidnappings and battles since then that call into question the
cease-fire.
At least 70
young women and teenage girls and boys have been kidnapped in Borno and Adamawa
states since Oct. 18, according to local government chairman Shettima Maina and
residents who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.
The insurgents
also launched several attacks since the cease-fire was announced. On Friday a
multinational force including troops from
Ten days after
the announcement, Boko Haram has not indicated that it has agreed to a truce.
He said the
release of the Chibok girls is part of ongoing cease-fire negotiations, which
would not be affected by the latest abductions.
"There is
still negotiation going on and we expect a lot of progress to be made ... And
we will make an effort also to bring back those that have been kidnapped,"
Wali told a news conference in
He spoke
alongside the foreign ministers of
"Thousands
of people have become traumatized by the violence," said Laurent Fabius of
None of the
escaped girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch was offered proper counseling,
the group said in a new report Monday, quoting escapees who described forced
marriages and rapes, forced conversions to Islam, forced labor and forced
participation in attacks.
The insurgents
mainly target Christians and girls who go to school, said Human Rights Watch.
More than 500
girls and women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since 2009, according to an
estimate by the New York-based rights group. Unknown scores of young men also
have been kidnapped and forced to join the extremists as fighters.
Boko Haram
leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video last year that his group kidnaps because
the military is holding members of Boko Haram families.
Human Rights
Watch said only students who escaped from Chibok had received some type of
state-supported counseling and medical care. But it quoted one of the Chibok
girls as saying the counseling was just speeches by one Christian and one
Muslim cleric.
Another Chibok girl said: "I just want someone who will listen to me and help me to stop the fear that takes over my mind when I think of my sisters (school mates) who are still with Boko Haram. I am so afraid for them. Why can't the government bring them back?"
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