News: 'Allah said we should not negotiate' - Boko Haram leader,Shekau denies ceasefire with government, says; All The Chibok Girls Are Married
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.
Kidnapped Chibok girls held in a Boko Haram camp
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.
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