Members of Boko Haram have allegedly kidnapped eight more girls aged 12 to 15 years from the northeastern Nigerian village of Warabe, hours after the armed group claimed responsibility for abducting nearly 300 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok, police and residents have said.
A police source, who could not be named, said on Tuesday that the eight girls were taken away overnight on trucks, along with looted livestock and food.
"They were many, and all of them carried guns. They came in two vehicles painted in army colour. They started shooting in our village," said Lazarus Musa, a resident of Warabe.
In a video released on Monday, the armed group threatened to sell the 276 girls abducted on April 14 from a secondary school in Chibok "in the marketplace".
Boko Haram's leader Abubaker Shekau criticised the female students for being taught "western education", which the group is avidly against.
He also warned that his group planned to attack more schools and abduct more girls.
UN warning
He said the girls, some as young as nine-years-old, would be sold for marriage, stating that "God has commanded me to sell".
The statement prompted a warning from the United Nations against "slavery" or "sexual slavery".
"We warn the perpetrators that there is an absolute prohibition against slavery and sexual slavery in international law. These can under certain circumstances constitute crimes against humanity," UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.
"That means anyone responsible can be arrested, charged, prosecuted, and jailed at any time in the future. So just
because they think they are safe now, they won't necessarily be in two years, five years or 10 years time," he said.
He also urged Nigeria's federal and local authorities to work together to rescue the girls.
On Sunday night, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said his administration was doing everything possible to ensure the schoolgirls were released.
Aljazeera
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Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
Video - President Goodluck Jonathan makes public address on kidnapped schoolgirls
Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, makes his first comments about the 276 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists three weeks ago. There has been growing public anger at the way the government has reacted to the mass kidnapping. Speaking during a televised debate, Jonathan promised the parents of the missing children that the government would rescue them. 'We promise that wherever these girls are, we will surely get them out,' he said.
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US to help Nigerian government rescue kidnapped schoolgirls
US Secretary of State John Kerry has vowed that Washington will do "everything possible" to help Nigeria deal with the armed group Boko Haram, following the kidnapping of scores of schoolgirls.
"Let me be clear. The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime," Kerry said in a policy speech in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday.
"We will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and hold the perpetrators to justice. That is our responsibility and the world's responsibility," Kerry said.
The US, he said, was "working to strengthen Nigeria's institutions and its military to combat Boko Haram's campaign of terror and violence".
The schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen from the Chibok Government Girls' Secondary School school in Nigeria's Borno state on Tuesday last week.
Nigerian police on Friday said Boko Haram was holding 223 girls of the 276 seized from the school, revising upwards the number of youngsters abducted.
The girls' abduction has triggered global outrage and prompted protests in a number of Nigerian cities, as desperate parents call on the government to secure their release.
More than 200 people also held a rally on Saturday in front of Washington's Lincoln Memorial to bring attention to the girls' plight.
'No effort' to rescue girls
Nigerian mothers on Saturday vowed to hold more protests to push for a greater rescue effort from the authorities.
"We need to sustain the message and the pressure on political and military authorities to do everything in their power to ensure these girls are freed," Nigerian protest organiser Hadiza Bala Usman told AFP.
She said that women and mothers would on Tuesday march to the offices of the defence minister and chief of defence staff "to ask them what they are doing to rescue our daughters".
"We believe there is little or no effort for now on the part of the military and government to rescue these abducted girls, who are languishing in some dingy forest," she said.
Nigeria's information minister, Labaran Maku, said on Friday that Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, had chaired a top-level meeting with military and security chiefs about a possible rescue mission.
The mass kidnapping is one of the most shocking attacks in Boko Haram's five-year offensive, which has killed thousands across the north and centre of the country, including 1,500 people this year alone.
Boko Haram, an armed group whose name means "Western education is sinful", is fighting what it calls Western influence and wants to form an Islamic state in Africa's largest oil producer country.
AFP
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"Let me be clear. The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime," Kerry said in a policy speech in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday.
"We will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and hold the perpetrators to justice. That is our responsibility and the world's responsibility," Kerry said.
The US, he said, was "working to strengthen Nigeria's institutions and its military to combat Boko Haram's campaign of terror and violence".
The schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen from the Chibok Government Girls' Secondary School school in Nigeria's Borno state on Tuesday last week.
Nigerian police on Friday said Boko Haram was holding 223 girls of the 276 seized from the school, revising upwards the number of youngsters abducted.
The girls' abduction has triggered global outrage and prompted protests in a number of Nigerian cities, as desperate parents call on the government to secure their release.
More than 200 people also held a rally on Saturday in front of Washington's Lincoln Memorial to bring attention to the girls' plight.
'No effort' to rescue girls
Nigerian mothers on Saturday vowed to hold more protests to push for a greater rescue effort from the authorities.
"We need to sustain the message and the pressure on political and military authorities to do everything in their power to ensure these girls are freed," Nigerian protest organiser Hadiza Bala Usman told AFP.
She said that women and mothers would on Tuesday march to the offices of the defence minister and chief of defence staff "to ask them what they are doing to rescue our daughters".
"We believe there is little or no effort for now on the part of the military and government to rescue these abducted girls, who are languishing in some dingy forest," she said.
Nigeria's information minister, Labaran Maku, said on Friday that Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, had chaired a top-level meeting with military and security chiefs about a possible rescue mission.
The mass kidnapping is one of the most shocking attacks in Boko Haram's five-year offensive, which has killed thousands across the north and centre of the country, including 1,500 people this year alone.
Boko Haram, an armed group whose name means "Western education is sinful", is fighting what it calls Western influence and wants to form an Islamic state in Africa's largest oil producer country.
AFP
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Leader of protest of government inaction to rescue kidnapped schoolgirls detained
A woman leading protests over the abduction of more than 200 girls in Nigeria has been detained on the orders of the president's wife, activists say.
Naomi Mutah took part in a meeting called by First Lady Patience Jonathan and was then taken to a police station, they say.Mrs Jonathan reportedly felt slighted that the mothers of the abducted girls had sent Ms Mutah to the meeting.
Analysts say Mrs Jonathan is a politically powerful figure.
Ms Mutah, a representative of the Chibok community where the girls were seized from their school more than two weeks ago, last week organised a protest outside parliament in the capital, Abuja.
The protesters, and many Nigerians, feel the government has not done enough to find the missing girls, who are thought to have been kidnapped by militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
Boko Haram has not commented on the accusation.
President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday night spoke for the first time about the abductions.
In a live TV broadcast, he said he did not know where the girls were but said everything was being done to find them.
Pogo Bitrus, another Chibok community leader, told the BBC he had been to the Asokoro police station where Ms Mutah is reported to have been taken but could find no written record of her being there.
He described the detention as "unfortunate" and "insensitive".
He said he hoped Mrs Jonathan would soon "realise her mistake".
Mr Bitrus noted that Mrs Jonathan has no constitutional power to order arrests.
The AP news agency quotes another community leader, Saratu Angus Ndirpaya, as saying that Mrs Jonathan accused the activists of fabricating the abductions to give the government a bad name.
She also said the First Lady accused them of supporting Boko Haram.
BBC
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Naomi Mutah took part in a meeting called by First Lady Patience Jonathan and was then taken to a police station, they say.Mrs Jonathan reportedly felt slighted that the mothers of the abducted girls had sent Ms Mutah to the meeting.
Analysts say Mrs Jonathan is a politically powerful figure.
Ms Mutah, a representative of the Chibok community where the girls were seized from their school more than two weeks ago, last week organised a protest outside parliament in the capital, Abuja.
The protesters, and many Nigerians, feel the government has not done enough to find the missing girls, who are thought to have been kidnapped by militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
Boko Haram has not commented on the accusation.
President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday night spoke for the first time about the abductions.
In a live TV broadcast, he said he did not know where the girls were but said everything was being done to find them.
Pogo Bitrus, another Chibok community leader, told the BBC he had been to the Asokoro police station where Ms Mutah is reported to have been taken but could find no written record of her being there.
He described the detention as "unfortunate" and "insensitive".
He said he hoped Mrs Jonathan would soon "realise her mistake".
Mr Bitrus noted that Mrs Jonathan has no constitutional power to order arrests.
The AP news agency quotes another community leader, Saratu Angus Ndirpaya, as saying that Mrs Jonathan accused the activists of fabricating the abductions to give the government a bad name.
She also said the First Lady accused them of supporting Boko Haram.
BBC
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Sunday, May 4, 2014
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Three weeks after 300 school girls were abducted in Nigeria, the country's President has set up a committee to help secure their release. He has ordered security chiefs to do everything possible to get the girls back - but people are becoming increasingly angry.
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Some of the 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls sold into marriage
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