Lagos, May 5, 2014
Nigeria’s Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram—the name means “Western education is a sin”—released a 57-minute video on May 5 claiming responsibility for the April 14 nighttime abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their boarding school in Chibok. “I abducted your girls,” says Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, in the footage, “I will sell them on the market, by Allah.” He also exhorts women to abandon education and get married. In response, the Nigerian government said it would not be deterred and vowed to continue search efforts. The U.S. has also announced plans to send nonmilitary personnel to assist Nigeria. From Pakistan’s education activist Malala Yousafzai to former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, everyone is calling for the safe return of the taken girls. Malala posted a black-and-white picture holding a sign with the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. “Access to education is a basic right & an unconscionable reason to target innocent girls,” tweeted Clinton. “We must stand up to terrorism.”
From our May 10-24, 2014, issue.