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| Chibok gils |
Boko
Haram denied that they had agreed to a ceasefire in a new video obtained on
Friday by AFP, describing the Nigerian government claims as a lie and
apparently ruling out future talks.
The
group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, also claimed the 219 schoolgirls kidnapped
from the remote northeast town of Chibok, in Borno state, in April had
converted to Islam and been married off.
In
addition, Shekau said the Islamists were holding a German national, who was
kidnapped in Adamawa state, also northeast Nigeria, in July.
The video
comes after a surprise Nigerian military and presidency announcement on October
17 that a deal had been reached with the militants to end hostilities.
A senior
presidential aide to Goodluck Jonathan also said agreement had been reached to
free the schoolgirls, whose abduction sparked global anger and demands for
their release.
There was
immediate scepticism about both claims because of previous assertions of
ceasefires and the identity of the purported Boko Haram envoy at the supposed
talks, Danladi Ahmadu.
Violence
— and fresh kidnappings — have continued unabated since the announcement,
including a triple bombing of a bus station in the northern city of Gombe on
Friday that killed at least eight.
Nigeria’s
government maintains that talks were ongoing in the Chadian capital, Ndjamena.
But Shekau, speaking in Hausa, dressed in military fatigues and boots with a
black turban, and flanked by 15 armed fighters, said: “We have not made
ceasefire with anyone…
“We did
not negotiate with anyone… It’s a lie. It’s a lie. We will not negotiate. What
is our business with negotiation? Allah said we should not.”
He also
said he did not know Danladi.
–
Kidnapped girls – There was no indication of when or where the video was shot
but it was obtained through the same channels as previous communications from
the group.
In it,
Shekau mentions the Chibok girls for the first time since a video obtained on
May 5, when more than 100 were shown in a rural location dressed in the hijab
and reciting verses from the Koran.
Then, the
militant leader said many of the girls had converted to Islam but in the
latest, he indicated that all of those held had become Muslims.
“Don’t
you know the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls have converted to Islam? They have now
memorised two chapters of the Koran,” he said.
Shekau
previously threatened to sell the girls as slave brides and also suggested that
he would be prepared to release them in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners.
In the latest
message, he said while laughing: “We have married them off. They are in their
marital homes.”
Human
Rights Watch said in a report published this week that Boko Haram was holding
upwards of 500 women and young girls and that forced marriage was commonplace
in the militant camps.
One
former hostage said she saw some of the Chibok girls forced to cook and clean
for other women and girls who had been chosen for “special treatment because of
their beauty”.
– German
national – Shekau’s claim in the video that they were “holding your German
hostage” is the first claim of responsibility for the abduction, which happened
on July 16.
The
German foreign ministry in Berlin said it did not want to comment when
contacted by AFP.
Armed
gunmen kidnapped the foreigner, who was said to be a teacher at a government
technical training centre in Gombi, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the
Adamawa state capital Yola .
Suspicion
immediately fell on Boko Haram, which has repeatedly attacked schools teaching
a so-called Western curriculum, as well as teachers and students.
An
offshoot of Boko Haram, Ansaru, has previously claimed the kidnapping of at
least eight foreigners in northern Nigeria since 2012 but the group has been
largely dormant for more than a year.
The group
reportedly broke with Boko Haram to specifically target foreigners instead of
Nigerians and executed seven expatriates it seized from Bauchi state in 2013.
In
January 2012, Boko Haram kidnapped German engineer Edgar Raupach at a
construction site on the outskirts of the northern city of Kano.
He was
killed in a military raid on a Boko Haram hideout on the outskirts of the city
four months later.
Kidnappings
for ransom by criminal gangs are common in the oil-producing south. On October
24, armed men shot dead one German national and kidnapped another in Ogun
state, southwest Nigeria.
Both were
working for the construction firm Julius Berger. The hostage was later
released, the company said on Thursday.
Vanguard
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