- Title: Protest in Nigeria marks 1000 days since Chibok abduction
- Date: 8th January 2017
- Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (JANUARY 8, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING IN STREET, POLICE VEHICLES DRIVING NEXT TO GROUP ON SIDE OF ROAD VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CARRYING PLACARDS, CHANTING AND MARCHING ON ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRING BACK OUR GIRLS LEADER, AISHA YESUFU, SAYING: "Ten weeks ago when the 21 Chibok girls returned the Nigerian government said that based on their discussions 83 more girls will return soon. Nothing has been said of them since that time. The 'Bring Back Our Girls' movement worries that the Nigerian government once again relapsed to the same complacency, lethargy and inertia that has been recurrent on this tragedy. What else explains the fact that despite all assurances that the release of another 83 Chibok girls is being negotiated there has been no further communication on the status of their release." VARIOUS OF PROTEST LEADER WALKING, CHANTING WITH OTHERS STANDING, HOLDING BANNERS OF CHIBOK GIRLS AND RESPONDING PROTESTERS MARCHING TOWARDS POLICE CORDON PROTESTERS MARCHING IN TO POLICE CORDON POLICE OFFICERS LINKING ARMS AND HOLDING BACK PROTEST MARCH BRING BACK OUR GIRLS MEMBERS PASTING POSTERS OF SOME ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS POSTERS SHOWING TWO OF THE GIRLS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRING BACK OUR GIRLS MEMBER, BUKKY SHONIBARE, SAYING: "The fact that we still have over 90 percent of the Chibok girls that were abducted 1000 days ago, it puts to question the efficacy of these successes that we are recording, so today yes I'm glad that 21 girls... 24 girls have returned, at the same time I'm expectant that with today and the significance of today we can reprioritise the issue of the Chibok girls and ensure that the remaining 195 are brought back and all other abductees." PROTEST IN STREET, POLICE STANDING AROUND
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2017 18:57
- Keywords: Protest Nigera 1 000th day abduction school girls Boko Haram Chibok
- Location: ABUJA, BORNO, LAGOS; NIGERIA / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: ABUJA, BORNO, LAGOS; NIGERIA / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0015Y7ZJGN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Campaigners from the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group protested in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, on Sunday (January 8) to mark the 1,000th day since more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their secondary school in Chibok by Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
The abduction in April 2014 sparked international outrage and prompted global figures and celebrities to support the campaign to find the girls and bring them home, using the twitter hashtag #BringbackOurGirls.
A group of 21 girls were freed in October 2016 after the International Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with Boko Haram.
The Nigerian government also promised that negotiations will continue to bring home the rest of the girls, but the leader of Bring Back Our Girls, Aisha Yesufu, says there has been nothing to show that any effort is being made.
"Ten weeks ago when the 21 Chibok girls returned the Nigerian government said that based on their discussions the 83 more girls will return soon. Nothing has been said of them since that time," Yesufu said.
The Nigerian military has been carrying out a large scale offensive against Boko Haram in the Sambisa forest, a strong hold of the Islamist group.
Lone girls carrying babies have also been rescued, but a large number of the girls remain under the control of their captors.
"The fact that we still have over 90 percent of the Chibok girls that were abducted 1000 days ago, it puts to question the efficacy of these successes that we are recording," said member of the BBOG group, Bukky Shonibare.
Boko Haram has killed 15,000 people and displaced more than two million during a seven-year insurgency to create an Islamic state governed by a strict interpretation of sharia law in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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