WUNRN
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/drew-hinshaw/
WEBSITE LINK INCLUDES FULL INTERVIEW VIDEO
NIGERIA – INSIGHTS ON WHY “OUR ABDUCTED
SCHOOLGIRLS” ARE NOT FREED – THE POLITICS, NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL –
THE POWER – THE PRIORITIES
January 3, 2015 - HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: It was
last April, more than eight month, since more than 200 school girls were
captured by Islamic militants in Nigeria. And though there have been periodic
reports about their imminent release, not one of them has been found or freed.
For the latest on the search and the
increasing tensions between Nigeria and the United States, we are joined once
again by Drew Hinshaw of “The Wall Street Journal.” He’s reporting tonight from
Accra in nearby Ghana.
So, I think the question on most Americans’ minds
is why haven’t we found these girls and why are we hearing about more
kidnappings throughout the year by Boko Haram?
DREW HINSHAW, THE WALL STREET
JOURNAL: The short answer is that Boko Haram is doing something very
much like winning in the northeast of Nigeria. The girls, there are 270 — I’m
sorry, 276 at first. Now, it’s down to 219 after a number of them escaped. And
that’s just a small segment of the total number of people Boko Haram has
kidnapped. It’s a sect that controls a very large section of northeastern
Nigeria, that includes mountains, caves, forests, small towns, even small
cities at this point. It’s kind of a really hard thing to find individual girls
who have all been split up at this point.
Early on, in May, the U.S. sent drones and
manned surveillance flights, and they did spot large groups of girls twice in
June and July. They have no idea if those are the girls or if those are a
separate group of girls that Boko Haram kidnapped. But they did find large
groups of girls kind of camped out the field.
Since then, the U.S. has scaled back. They
sent drones elsewhere where they’re need elsewhere. They were flying just a few
manned flights a week last time I checked in. The Nigerian government by itself
says it knows the location of the girls but can’t get them out.
HARI SREENIVASAN: What’s
happened to them?
DREW HINSHAW: Boko
Haram, they don’t see– they don’t see the girls as having any value to them.
They kind of aren’t cut out for life in the militant group. But, frankly,
they’re not going to get rid of them, either. It seems like there’s sort of an
impasse. There’s not a lot of trust between Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram
to come to some sort of negotiated settlement either.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, sort
of two relationships I want to explore very briefly. One, the tensions in those
negotiations between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government but there’s also
seems an increased amount of tension between the Nigerian government and U.S.
government.
DREW HINSHAW: So, the
fact that when it comes to communication between Boko Haram and Nigeria’s
government, it’s a lot of speculation.
In February, President Goodluck Jonathan
basically said he doesn’t talk to them. He said that journalists talk to him
more than he does. And when he said that, I kind of furrowed my brow because
frankly I don’t know a single journalist who has been able to have a confirmed,
verifiable conversation with Boko Haram in the past couple of years.
Since then, in October, Nigeria’s government
said, hey, look, we’ve got this breakthrough, we’ve been talking to them,
they’re going to release these girls. In fact, they said they’re going to
release all the captives Boko Haram has ever taken, which is, you know,
hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of men, boys, women, and children.
They never did. Boko Haram, they came out with
a tape a few days later saying: joke’s on you. We have no intention the
negotiating with you. You are an infidel government and we will continue waging
jihad.
The Nigerians are frustrated by this. And I
think some of that anger is being deflected against the United States. There’s
been a lot of statements lately like, well, we could deal with Boko Haram, but
the fact is there’s big neocolonial power, America, won’t let us buy
helicopters because they say we’re abusing human rights, right conditions (ph).
I think some of that is political posturing.
There is an election in February, and Nigeria is looking for — the government
is looking for a reason why they haven’t wrapped up now a five-yearlong
conflict with Boko Haram.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All
right. Drew Hinshaw of “The Wall Street Journal”, joining us tonight from
Accra, Ghana — thanks so much.