Boko Haram threatens to sell abducted Nigerian girls

Posted on 6 May 2014 - 04:41pm
Last updated on 6 May 2014 - 05:14pm

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KANO: Islamist extremist sect Boko Haram on Monday claimed responsibility for the abduction of more than 200 school girls from northern Nigeria and threatened to "sell" them.

"I am the one who abducted them," Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video message seen by dpa. "I will continue to sell the girls of 9 years, 10 years, because they are ripe and we have a market for them."

Standing in front of an armoured personnel carrier, Shekau said, "We will continue taking the girls because they are slaves."

The leader of Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful," vowed to continue attacking Western education in Africa's most populous nation.

The United States on Monday said it is sending a State Department delegation led by Sarah Sewall to Nigeria in the coming days to meet with senior government officials about "this despicable incident," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

Many of the girls likely have been moved out of Nigeria to neighbouring countries, she said. "The State Department has been in touch with the Nigerian government about what we might do to help support its efforts to find and free these young women," Harf said, adding that the US will continue to provide counter-terrorism assistance to help Nigeria develop a comprehensive approach to combating Boko Haram.

US President Barack Obama has been briefed several times about the abduction, and his national security team continues to monitor the situation closely, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"We view what has happened there as an outrage and a terrible tragedy," Carney said. US conter-terrorism assistance to Nigeria focuses on information sharing and on improving Nigeria's forensics and investigative capacity, he said.

"We are working with the Nigerian government to strengthen its criminal justice system and increase confidence in the government by supporting its efforts to hold those responsible for violence accountable," he said, noting that the US provided approximately 3 million dollars in law enforcement assistance to Nigeria in 2013.

The teenage girls were abducted from a boarding school on April 14 in the town of Chibok, near Borno state capital Maiduguri. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said at the weekend that at least 80% of the kidnapped girls were Christian and promised to intensify efforts to find them.

The kidnapping sparked mass protests against the government's handling of the incident. Nigerian police on Monday detained a woman who organised the protests.

The arrest was reportedly ordered by first lady Patience Jonathan, who does not have a constitutional power to give such orders. Naomi Mutu Nyadar, who heads the Bring Back Our Girls movement to pressure the government to find the missing girls, was arrested in Chibok, human rights activists told dpa on the condition of anonymity.

Nyadar, who led demonstrations over the weekend, was brought to the capital Abuja for questioning where she is in custody at a local police station, according to witnesses.

It remains unclear under on what charges Nyadar was detained. The police could not be reached for comment. Borno is one of three northern states that Nigeria's government placed under a state of emergency to curb Boko Haram attacks.

Boko Haram has been active in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north, carrying out attacks against government institutions and civilians. Since 2009, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the violence. – dpa

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