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05/03/2024 06:18:18 am

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Boko Haram: No Negotiations For German Captive And 200 Girls

Boko Haram: No Negotiations For German Captive And 200 Girls

(Photo : Afolabi Sotunde / Reuters) Isaac Rebecca, one of the girls who escaped from the Boko Haram camp, participates in the Global Week of Action held mid-October. Protests to "Bring Back Our Girls NOW" have been ongoing. On Friday night, however, Boko Haram leader Shekau Abubakar released a video trampling on Nigeria's hopes to see the girls freed, saying he had married them off long ago.

A video released Friday night by Nigerian Islamic extremist Boko Haram carried threats to kill the unidentified German care worker who was kidnapped at Gombi in July.

Leader Abubakar Shekau speaks directly to the camera as he describes the man who is "always crying", while pondering on the ways they could execute him. Shekau says they could "hack him or slaughter him or shoot him".

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This follows German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's earlier statement that they have received no new information about the German captive.

The video slams the Nigerian government, which released a statement this week saying negotiations with the terrorist group are ongoing. Shekau denied ceasefire on two accounts: for both cases of the German national and the 200 girls the group kidnapped in April.

He says they have no business with negotiation, indicating instructions from Islamic god Allah.  There will be no truce, Shekau added, as he is fighting as a martyr for his place in paradise.

He clarifies that Boko Haram sent no negotiator to strike a deal with the government. If such a person exists and is identified, the extremist says: "We will not spare him and will slaughter him if we get him."

As for the girls, Shekau laughed away any possibility of release in exchange for detained Boko Haram fighters, saying he had already married them off long ago. They have even converted to Islam and have memorized two chapters of the Koran, Shekau said.

The world was outraged to hear about the Chibok mass abduction in April. When news broke, it was met with a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign that went viral and was participated by high-profile personalities including the U.S. president's wife, Michelle Obama.

World leaders have also offered help to the Nigerian government but there had been no reports of diplomatic efforts to secure their release.

If the statements he made through the video are believed to be true, Shekau married off 219 of the girls that were left behind after 57 of them escaped in July.

In English, the name Boko Haram translates as "Western education is forbidden". It supports and serves the purposes of global militant network Al-Qaeda. Reports say the group has killed around 2,000 civilians in 2014.

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