AFRICA/NIGERIA - No trace of the schoolgirls abducted in areas reconquered by the army

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - The Nigerian military have found no trace of the 200 girls abducted in April last year by Boko Haram, in the territories they reconquered in northern Nigeria. "In the liberated areas we made some inquiries but the truth is that terrorists, when they flee, they also bring their families with them.
Those we managed to contact said nothing about the fact that the female students abducted resided in the area and were then taken away", said the head of the Nigerian army, General Kenneth Minimah.
The 200 girls had been kidnapped in a high school in Chibok, in Borno State, on the night between 14 and 15 April 2014. Despite the international campaign to demand their release, since then their fate remains uncertain. Boko Haram has said that the girls were forced to marry members of the Islamist sect.
The Nigerian army, along with those of neighboring Countries, has began military operations against Boko Haram in view of the presidential elections, initially planned in February but were postponed for six weeks to allow the multinational military force to combat against Boko Haram, to reconquer areas controlled by the Islamist sect and to strengthen security in the northeast of Nigeria (see Fides 07/02/2015). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/03/2015)