– ‘Utterly merciless’ –
Boko Haram, whose name translates loosely from the Hausa language spoken widely in northern Nigeria as “Western education is sin”, has attacked schools, churches, government installations and, increasingly, civilians since 2009.
This year alone more than 1,500 people have been killed, despite a state of emergency imposed in three northeast states in May last year which was designed to put down the insurgency but has failed to stem the bloodshed.
The militants were blamed for another attack on Friday night that completely destroyed the village of Liman Kara in northeastern Adamawa state.
The kidnapping of young girls and women has been used as a previous tactic, but the scale of these abductions – and threats from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau to sell the girls as slaves – has galvanised the international community into action. READ: Number of girls taken in latest Nigeria kidnap rises to 11.
US First Lady Michelle Obama, in a recorded message on Saturday, described the kidnappings as “unconscionable”, adding to condemnation from governments, religious leaders of all faiths, Hollywood celebrities, business figures and ordinary people around the world.
The leader of the world’s Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, warned that dealing with Boko Haram would be fraught with danger, as his opposite number in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, pledged his support for the girls’ return.
Welby, an oil executive before joining the Church, has experience of negotiating with violent groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta region in southern Nigeria.
He told BBC radio in an interview that the girls faced a “colossal” risk.
“They’re in the hands of a very disparate group which is extremely irrational and difficult to deal with, and utterly merciless in the example it’s shown in the past,” he said.
Negotiating would be “extremely complicated” because of Boko Haram’s disparate structure, while poverty and mass unemployment in mainly Muslim north Nigeria – factors seen as fuelling support for the group – have to be addressed, he added.
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