According to a new report yesterday,
a heartbreaking new video of the abducted Nigerian
schoolgirls has been released and the video shows the
missing schoolgirls bravely speaking out about their
ordeal for the first time.
The footage, not released publicly but seen by The Mail
on Sunday, was taken in a jungle clearing a month after
their abduction.
In the video, eight girls, dressed in their home-made
school uniforms of pale blue gingham, plead for release
as they stand courageously in front of the camera. They
are clearly scared, upset and trying to
be brave. Each of them walks in turn to a spot in front of
a white sheet fixed to a crude frame between the trees.
Four of them can be heard clearly, in their Hausa
language, stating that they were taken by force and that
they are hungry.
A tall girl, aged about 18, says tearfully: 'My family will
be so worried.'
Another, speaking softly, says: 'I never expected to
suffer like this in my life.' A third says: 'They have taken
us away by force.' The fourth girl complains: 'We are not
getting enough food.'
MailOnline reports that the video, taken by an
intermediary on May 19, has been shown to President
Goodluck Jonathan. It was intended to serve as 'proof of
life' for the girls and to encourage the President to
accede to the terrorists' demands.
The girls in the video look healthy, but it is understood
that fraught negotiations are under way to broker the
release of several pupils who have fallen ill, including
one with a broken wrist. Two earlier videos showed the
girls seated on the ground, dressed in hijabs, reciting
the Koran, and Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
declaring he would sell them into slavery, or marry them
off to their kidnappers, if members of his sect were not
released from prison.
Meanwhile, MailOnline is also exclusively reporting that
an Australian man has revealed how he is desperately
trying to free the 250 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls,
who were taken on April 14 by Boko Haram terrorists.
The man, Dr Stephen Davis left his home in Perth to
travel to Nigeria after being recruited by the country's
president for his hostage negotiation expertise. And
he has been working secretly in Nigeria for almost a
month now. He was asked to come to Nigeria after
previously brokering a truce between violent rebels and
the government in the Niger Delta in 2004.
In an email from Nigeria, the Doctor revealed he has had
'ongoing contact' with the groups involved in the
kidnapping in Nigeria's north for seven years.
'This is a long process of building trust on both
sides. There are several groups to deal with as the
girls are held in several camps. This makes any
thought of a rescue highly improbable. To attempt
to rescue one group would only endanger the
others.'
Despite the difficulties of a rescue operation, Dr Davis
remains hopeful that the schoolgirls will be freed.
'Every day there is the possibility of the release of
the girls. This is painful for the parents and the
nation. The well-being of the girls is constantly on
our minds and we want to see their release as soon
as possible.'
However, he warned:
'We must not endanger their lives any further. The
vast majority of the Chibok girls are not being held
in Nigeria. They are in camps across the Nigerian
border in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. I say the
“vast majority” as I know a small group was
confirmed to me to be in Nigeria last week when we
sought to have them released.'
He also described how fraught the negotiation process
has been. Dr Davis continued:
One of that small group of girls is ill and we had
hoped we might convince the commander of the
group holding her that she should be released so
we could give her medical treatment. There are
other girls who are not well and we have come
close to having them released but their captors fear
a trap in which they will be captured in the
handover process.
One girl has what I assume is a broken wrist as
they demonstrate to me how she holds her hand. I
have been told that others are sick and in need of
medical attention...
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