Nigerian girls’ rescue ‘could turn tragic’

Cape Town — Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists who kidnapped more than 200 girls in Abuja three weeks ago are seeking a prisoner swap for jailed comrades, a former mediator with the militants has reportedly said.According to The Telegraph, Shehu Sani, who has previously brokered face-to-face peace talks with Boko Haram said he believed that the video in which the group’s leader Abubakar Shekaur threatened to sell the girls as “slaves” was proof that the group planned to use them as bargaining chips rather than kill them.

The video was released on Monday and showed Shekau gloating that he would sell the captives “in the market” to anyone wishing to take them as wives.

The mass kidnapping last month triggered an international outcry and protests in Nigeria, piling pressure on the government to get the girls back.

Sani warned that it could be dangerous to try to free the girls by force, adding the move could most likely turn tragic. He suggested channels of negotiation as the only way to have the girls freed.

Meanwhile, Women, Children and People with Disabilities Minister Lulu Xingwana yesterday called for the safe return of the over 200 girls recently kidnapped in Nigeria.

She said in a statement: “We call on their captors not to allow any harm to befall the children and to hand over the girls to authorities so that they can be safely reunited with their families.”

The schoolgirls were kidnapped from a school in Chibok in north-eastern Borno state by Islamic militant group Boko Haram on April 14.

Another eight girls were kidnapped by the group on Tuesday. “Our prayers and thoughts are with the people of Nigeria, especially the families of the schoolgirls, during this difficult time,” said Xingwana.

She urged the Nigerian government and the international community to double efforts to secure the safe release of the girls. “The kidnapping of the schoolgirls is a serious human rights violation and a crime against humanity,” she said.

“It violates the rights of women and the girls, who are in most cases the biggest victims in conflict situations.”

Xingwana also sent a message of support to her Nigerian counterpart Hajiya Zainab Maina and to the families of the abducted schoolgirls. — Sapa