ICC Note:
Recent reports state the Nigerian government has rejected the proposal for a negotiated trade, the release of more than 200 girls abducted from Chibok and Warabe villages for the release of arrested and detained members of radical Islamic insurgency and U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) Boko Haram. Allegations Boko Haram is forcefully converting those abducted to Islam continue to spread following the release of a video Monday featuring Boko Haram leader and spokesman Abubakar Shekau and images of what appears to be those abducted reciting Quran’ic passages and making professions of faith in Allah. Following the leaked release of part of a comprehensive list detailing the identities and religious affiliations of those abducted, which is still being compiled by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigerian State’s security apparatus, the SSS, which revealed of 178 girls identified, 160 profess Christianity.
05/12/14 Nigeria (Outlook) – Nigeria today rejected conditions set out by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls held hostage by the Islamists.
Asked if the government would reject the suggestion by Shekau in a new video that the girls may be released once Nigeria frees all militant prisoners, Interior Minister Abba Moro told AFP: “Of course.”
“The issue in question is not about Boko Haram… Giving conditions,” he said.
Shekau made the claim in a video obtained by AFP today claiming to show about 130 of the 276 girls abducted from their school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, on April 14.
“We will never release them (the girls) until after you release our brethren,” he said.
The militant leader, who has made prisoner exchange demands before, said that some of the teenagers had converted from Christianity to Islam.
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