No one seems to know how many Nigerian girls are actually missing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...how-many-nigerian-girls-are-actually-missing/


Women march in Abuja on Wednesday to demand action on the missing students. (Philip Ojisua/AFP/Getty Images)

The number of girls and young women who are reported missing after being taken from a school in northeastern Nigeria continues to climb.

Police said that the number of girls missing is up to 276 and that more than 300 were abducted April 14, the Associated Press reports. Fifty-three have escaped, they said.

Here's what has been reported on the number of missing girls and young women:

The original estimate was that about 100 girls were kidnapped. Then, on April 16, the military reported that all but eight were freed, the AP says.

On April 17, that statement was retracted, and the school's principal said 129 were missing, and 14 had been returned. On the 18th, Nigerian authorities said that 85 were still missing and that 24 had escaped, for a total of 109.

On April 21, parents said 234 were still missing, Reuters said, while officials said 77 were still missing and 52 had been accounted for, for 129 total kidnapped. A day later, parents gave a visiting governor a list of 234 missing, and the principal told the AP that 230 were missing and 43 accounted for.

On Wednesday, when marches were held to ask for action in finding the girls, the AP said the school's principal estimated that 220 students were still missing.

The reason the number of missing keeps increasing is that students from other schools had traveled to Chibok to take an exam there, Police Commissioner Tanko Lawan said, according to AP. He said many schools in the area have been shut down because of attacks from Islamic extremists.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan referred to the kidnapped students for the first time Thursday, according to news reports.

According to allafrica.com, he said:

The extremist group Boko Haram has been blamed for the disappearance of the students, ages 15 to 18, though the group hasn't taken responsibility for it. Its name means "Western education is sinful."

Boko Haram did take responsibility for a massive explosion April 14 that killed at least 75 people in the capital, Abuja. Another blast yesterday in the capital, near the same spot, killed at least 19 and injured 66, the AP reports.




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The fact that this is unsolved is ridiculous. Religious extremism of any stripe must be stopped. It underlines the popular view of Nigeria's government as corrupt and incompetent. I hope these young women are safely back with their families soon.

 

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Good point. I've had it up to here with religious extremists, of every religion. And it's even more frustrating to me to see, with all the many problems Nigeria (and Africa in general) has, that they are importing Arab Islamic (?) tribal cultural practices and gender relations and appear to be moving backward. This retrograde gender structure is not good for Africa or any other continent, for that matter.

 

I understand this is a stand out case, but all of a sudden when a bunch of girls are kidnapped by extremists everyone seems to suddenly care? This stuff is happening everyday in much more massive numbers that people barely talk about. Human trafficking, slavery/forced labor and sexual slavery. Women, children, and men as well. Every day. All over the world. In wartime and peacetime. Fathers selling their daughters into slavery for profit. An ex friend of an ex friend prostituted his 13 year old daughter to support his drug addiction. There are countless other types of examples.

There is so much evil, it's often easier to just shut it out. We bring up these issues when religious extremists are the cause, but the vast majority of things like this are perpetrated by people and organizations just looking for profit, whose most loyal affiliation is to their own self-interest not to any religious extremist group. And that's what really needs to be talked about.

 

What this story showed is the bold faced audacity of a group like Boko Haram to use perverse and twisted actions, no matter how dastardly, to satiate their sick agenda. These were innocent schoolgirls just getting an education and these incorrigible beasts used it as an excuse to kidnap so many defenseless young girls. Truly stomach turning. Hope every single one of those young ladies make it home safely and are reunited with their families.

 

She indeed is beautiful.

 

My Nigerian girl friend feels the only solution is for the north and south to divide into two nations. Those in power have resisted this for some time because it would necessarily mean less subjects/less land to rule. Her (southern) tribe tried to break away after the 1996 and 2006 massacres but didn't have enough support. Perhaps after this now ...

 

I just think that people are so horrified because we've become accustomed if not hardened to banal forms of evil, like prostitution and sexual slavery. These borderline-insane shocking incidents are like mass insanity and people are just left without the tools to understand it.

 

Only because, this stands out so much compared to their usual tactics. It's more about the numbers than the action. Boko Haram massacres dozens to hundreds of people on a regular basis. When I read about an entire village being stormed and killed by the Boko Haram, I'm like "surprise, surprise". The kidnappings didn't even really shock me. They're an extremist group. Nothing will stop them from carrying out their agenda.

 

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Nigeria violence: 'Boko Haram' kill 27 in village attacks

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27498598



Gabriel Gatehouse in Jos: "Is the Nigerian military capable of coping with this threat?"


The Islamist group Boko Haram has been accused of killing at least 27 people in attacks on two villages in north-east Nigeria, close to where hundreds of schoolgirls were seized.

Gunmen killed 10 people in the village of Shawa and a further 17 in Alagarno, police and witnesses said.

The area is near Chibok, where the schoolgirls were abducted last month.

On Tuesday 118 people died in a double bombing in the central city of Jos, also blamed on Boko Haram.

The abductions of more than 200 girls caused international outrage and prompted foreign powers, including the US, to send military advisers to assist Nigeria's army.

In another development on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama said 80 military personnel had been deployed to neighbouring Chad to help search for the missing girls.

"These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area," Mr Obama said in a letter to Congress.

Many parts of restive north-east Nigeria are no-go zones for the military and insurgents operate freely there, correspondents say.

The attack on Shawa happened on Monday and that on Alagarno on Tuesday, but were only reported on Wednesday.

Witnesses in Shawa said the gunmen had been on motorcycles. Villagers in Alagarno said the suspected Boko Haram fighters had arrived at night, forcing many residents to flee into the bush.

The militants left the village some four hours later with stolen food and vehicles. One survivor told the BBC that every building had been torched.

In Jos, the search for bodies has been continuing in the rubble left by the twin bombings.


Witnesses in Jos described scenes of horror and confusion in the aftermath of the attack


Twisted wreckage from the blasts in Jos was still strewn across the road on Wednesday


Relatives of victims gathered at a mortuary in Jos to identify their loved ones

The attacks targeted a crowded market and a hospital, and the second blast went off 30 minutes after the first - killing rescue workers who had rushed to the scene.

"People were using wheelbarrows to move bodies and limbs," eyewitness Janzen Weyi told the BBC.

There has been widespread international condemnation.

US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the bombing, and other recent attacks blamed on Boko Haram, were "unconscionable, terrorist acts".

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague called the attack in Jos a "cowardly, inhumane crime".

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan said those who carried out the attacks were "cruel and evil".

The president announced increased measures to tackle the militants, including a multinational force around Lake Chad which comprises a battalion each from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.

 

I'm so tired of religious/political extremists. All this does is set the stage for more foreign intervention, fewer indigenous solutions to local problems, and more instability.

 

Breaking up wont solve the problem.I am a nigerian and their are many who feel like me.What is going on right now is political.The rich northern elites are the ones sponsoring this boko haram to instigate trouble in the north because the nigerian president is signifying interest for the next years"s election.I do wish now the american govt is involved they should expose these ppl sponsoring boko haram.We are tired of their excesses.

 

We're not hearing the end of it now, in fact we're discussing it. what's your point

 

Islam appears to be the current bete noire du jour. There are many African Muslims who do not subscribe to this nonsense, but there are so many in Africa who profit from its disorder and use it to extract resources for the US and European corporations and charge their corruption surcharge and become obscenely wealthy.

 

Settle down snitchy..

When white boys fuck up... you're quiet as the miserable roach you are..

 

Hmm so as a white guy u had feel vindicated right?

 

:smt043

 

It's very difficult for me to understand. Good luck.