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Monday, 12 May 2014
FG rejects Boko Haram prisoner swap for hostage schoolgirls
ABUJA- The federal government on Monday rejected
conditions set out by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls held hostage by
the Islamists.
Asked if the government would reject the suggestion by
Shekau in a new video that the girls may be released once
Nigeria frees all militant prisoners, Interior Minister Abba
Moro told AFP: “Of course.”
“The issue in question is not about Boko Haram… giving
conditions,” he said.
Shekau made the claim in a video obtained by AFP on
Monday claiming to show about 130 of the 276 girls
abducted from their school in the remote northeastern town
of Chibok, in Borno state, on April 14.
“We will never release them (the girls) until after you
release our brethren,” he said.
The militant leader, who has made prisoner exchange
demands before, said that some of the teenagers had
converted from Christianity to Islam.
The International Crisis Group said in a report published last
month that Boko Haram had written an open letter in 2011
to the governor of northern Kano state, demanding the
release of detainees.
Shekau repeated the demand in a video released last week
claiming responsibility for the mass kidnapping that has
sparked global condemnation and calls for action.
Nigeria’s military has been accused of rounding up
thousands of Boko Haram suspects, including women and
children, and holding them in atrocious conditions that have
been criticised by rights groups.
On March 14, Boko Haram fighters stormed the notorious
Giwa military barracks in the state capital of Borno,
Maiduguri, freeing hundreds of militants.
Amnesty International, however, said on March 31 that
there was “credible evidence” that more than 600 people,
most of them unarmed recaptured detainees, were
summarily killed in the military response.
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