Despite rumors of a resolution between the Nigerian government and the extremist faction Boko Haram, the group's leader insists that the hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped earlier this year have been converted to Islam and married off.
According to the Associated Press, a video released last night shows Abubakar Shekau admitting that the girls had been married off, as well as denying a cease-fire between Boko Haram and Nigeria's government:
The issue of the girls is long forgotten because I have long ago married them off, he said, laughing.
Boko Haram's kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls taking exams at a boarding school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok in April prompted international outrage and criticism of Nigeria's government for not acting quickly to free them. Dozens of the girls escaped on their own in the first couple of days, but 219 remain missing.
Unconfirmed reports have indicated that the girls have been broken up into several groups and that some may have been carried across borders into Cameroon and Chad.
The government had said it had negotiated with two Boko Haram leaders in Chad, with talks hosted by President Idriss Deby, and that it was confident the girls would be freed soon. But Boko Haram has many factions.
[via Associated Press]
