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Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls 'to be freed' after deal with Islamic fundamentalists Boko Haram who seized more than 200 teenagers
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- Ceasefire deal announced by the Nigerian military and country's president
- Islamic militants captured more than 200 girls from their school in April
- Leader Abubakar Shekau had vowed to sell the teenagers as sex slaves
- Terror group has been demanding release of jailed extremists in exchange
Published: 14:41 GMT, 17 October 2014
More than 200 schoolgirls seized by jihadi fighters in Nigeria over six months ago could be freed.
The country’s military said it has agreed a ceasefire with their captors, terror group Boko Haram, and claimed the girls’ release forms part of the truce.
The 276 girls, aged 11 to 18, were abducted from their school in the remote town of Chibok in April, sparking an international effort to track them down.
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Some of the 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram are seen in a video released by the terror group earlier this year. A deal has reportedly been reached to secure the release in a ceasefire agreement
Terrified: Some 276 girls were seized from their dormitories at the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, in April, but dozens managed to escaped
107 BOKO HARAM FIGHTERS KILLED BY TROOPS IN CAMEROON
Eight Cameroon soldiers and 107 Boko Haram militants have been killed in fighting in the far north of Cameroon, the defence ministry said in a statement read on state radio on Friday.
Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks into Cameroon this year as part of its campaign for a de facto Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria.
Boko Haram negotiators 'assured that the schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well,' Mike Omeri, the government spokesman on the insurgency, told a news conference.
Boko Haram has been demanding the release of detained extremists in exchange for the girls.
There was no immediate word from Boko Haram, which limits its announcements almost exclusively to videos of its leader Abubakar Shekau.
It could take days for word to get to its fighters, who are broken into several groups.
They include foreigners from neighboring countries Chad, Cameroon and Niger, where the insurgents also have camps.
There have been unconfirmed reports that at least some of the girls have been carried across borders, and some forced to marry their captors.
A Boko Haram video in May showed two of the girls explaining why they had converted from Christianity to Islam.
The chief of defense staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, announced the truce and ordered his troops to immediately comply with the agreement.
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The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has been demanding the release of detained extremists in exchange for the girls since they were captured from a boarding school in May
'Already, the terrorists have announced a ceasefire in furtherance of their desire for peace.
'In this regard, the government of Nigeria has, in similar vein, declared a cease-fire,' Omeri said.
He confirmed there had been direct negotiations this week about the release of the abducted girls.
Another official said the talks took place in neighbouring Chad. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to reporters.
WHO ARE BOKO HARAM? INSIGHT INTO NIGERIAN TERROR GROUP THAT'S KILLED THOUSANDS IN BID TO CREATE AN ISLAMIC STATE
Boko Haram was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf – but it didn’t gain worldwide notoriety until it began a violent insurgency in earnest in 2009.
Ultimately, the group wants Nigeria to become an Islamic state.
Since mid-2009, it has killed thousands and has destabilised swathes of the northeast of Nigeria, as well as neighbours Cameroon and Niger.
Its name means ‘Western education is forbidden’ – and it’s the country’s school system that in the main fuels its anger.
But the group has murdered people – including Muslims - for merely speaking out against it.
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Firefighters and rescuers extinguish a fire at the scene of a bomb blast at Terminus market in the central city of Jos, Nigeria, in May, in one of two explosions blamed on terror group Boko Haram
Yusuf established an Islamic school and mosque, which proved popular with many poor Muslim families.
He was killed by Nigerian security forces in 2009, but rather than weaken the group, it re-emerged with increased ferocity under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau.
It has bombed churches, barracks and even the UN headquarters and often uses gunmen on the back of motorbikes to ruthless cut down those who criticise it.
President Goodluck Jonathan became so alarmed at the chaos the group was spreading that in 2013 he declared a state of emergency in the areas where it was most active – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The Nigerian military has been fairly ineffective against the heavily armed group.
A lack of investment in training, failure to maintain equipment and dwindling cooperation with Western forces has damaged Nigeria's armed services, while in Boko Haram they face an increasingly well-armed, determined foe.
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Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St Theresa Catholic Church outside the Nigerian capital Abuja on December 25, 2011 amid spiralling violence blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram
The militants know the military's limitations.
A police source said a fighter jet flew over the market town of Gamburu last Monday as a group of gunmen killed at least 125, but the killers didn't flinch, knowing they could not be targeted while scattered in a densely populated area.
‘In a typical unit, Boko Haram has between 300 and 500 fighters. It's not a guerrilla force that you can fight half heartedly,’ said Jacob Zenn, a Boko Haram expert at U.S. counter-terrorism institution CTC Sentinel said in May.
‘It's snowballing. It's getting more weapons, more recruits, their power is increasing every day.’
On February 12 dozens of fighters loyal to Boko Haram attacked a remote military outpost in the Gwoza hills.
A security source with knowledge of the assault said they came in Hilux tracks with mounted machine guns and showered the camp with gunfire.
Boko Haram's fighters had little cover and were easily picked off - 50 of them died against nine Nigerian troops - but they still managed to make off with the base's entire armoury stockpile of 200 mortar bombs, 50 rocket-propelled grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, the source said.
Their ability to dart over the border into Cameroon, whose own security forces have shown little appetite for taking them on, gives the militants an added advantage.
Ethnic and religious divisions within the military have also bred some collusion with Boko Haram, sources say.
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Women protest against the release of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters. The case of the abducted school girls drew global attention, magnified by a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign
DID HASHTAG APPEAL HELP GIRLS?
More than three weeks after the Islamic extremists abducted the girls, the world outrage galvanised Twitter and other social-media networks.
The case was not widely followed until #BringBackOurGirls and other hashtags attracted a torrent of attention.
More than 2.1million tweets using #BringBackOurGirls were posted within weeks of their abduction, according to Topsy, a site that offers Twitter analytics.
Their plight was then magnified when celebrities including Michelle Obama (above) and Angelina Jolie joined up, placing pressure on world leaders to secure their release.
Some 276 girls were seized from their dormitories at the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, on the night of April 14.
Fifty-seven escaped and Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau later vowed to sell the rest as sex slaves.
In the weeks after the kidnapping, Mr Brown, a UN envoy, had led calls for an 'international and domestic response'.
Jonathan was criticised at home and abroad for his slow response to the kidnapping and for his inability to quell the violence by the terror group, whose name means 'Western education is forbidden.'
The Nigerian military has twice claimed its leader Abubakr Shekau had been killed, but Boko Haram later issued video denials.
The latest one came earlier this month when he was apparently seen in a video that shows the beheading of a man who identifies himself the pilot of a missing Nigerian Air Force jet
Their plight drew global attention, magnified by a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign that drew in celebrities including Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie.
Earlier this week, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to helping Nigeria find the group while former British prime minister Gordon Brown said the world should not forget the girls' struggle.
Their plight drew protests around the world with demands that the military and government get them free.
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Pakistani school pupil and education activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban, with Rebecca Samuel, whose daughter is missing in Abuja, Nigeria. Malala travelled to Abuja in Nigeria to meet the relatives of schoolgirls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram earlier this year
What are some of the best kept secrets of Mumbai? (Facts you may not know)
Ref - Discussion in Quora Digest.
1. Bombay has the largest national park in the world located within city limits.
Hardly anybody knows that the Sanjay Gandhi National Park is an unbroken forest tract that covers 104 sq km. Or the fact that within its core areas the park is home to not just the well known leopard, Langur and the Sambhar but also the Indian Flying-fox, Hyenas and four-horned antelopes. The least-known fact though is that the Park authorities are doing a damned good job given the resources they have and in the face of immense real estate greed in the city and the abject apathy and lack of interest of the citizens. The rich flora and fauna of Sanjay Gandhi National Park attracts more than 2 million visitors every year. It is the largest park within a city metropolis limit in the world. Tourists also enjoy visiting the 2400 years old Kanheri caves sculpted out of the rocky cliffs which lie within the park. It is in the centre of the park where an important Buddhist learning centre and pilgrimage site was sculpted by Buddhist monks between 9th and the 1st centuries BCE.
The ancient Kanheri Cave of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai
2. Mumbai's Secret Underground Tunnel.
On a totally different note, recently, an underground secret tunnel had been discovered below Mumbai's General Post Office(GPO), which is said to be built by the Britishers as an underground escape passage route leading to the then Bombay Fort, fearing attacks from the Napolean. I don't think a lot of Mumbaikars know about this. In June 2010, a curious query by one of our newspaper’s reporters to a ward boy in St George’s Hospital, Fort, led to the discovery of this best-kept secret: a tunnel which begins underneath it and possibly has outlets at the Gateway of India and Churchgate.
3.What lies under Nariman point, one of the most expensive places in the world is actually debris.
Prior to 1940, the area was part of the Arabian sea. A popular leader of the Congress, Khurshid Nariman (affectionately called Veer Nariman), a Parsi Mumbai Municipal Corporation corporator, proposed to reclaim the area from the sea near Churchgate. To accomplish this task, debris from various parts of the city was dumped here and the shallow sea coast was filled. Reinforced concrete cement was used, of which the imported steel used was obtained from the black market at a higher price due to the World War II.The entire cost was estimated to be 3 lakhs or 300,000 (now 10 crores or 100,000,000) Additional reclamations were carried out in the 1970s. A construction boom in that decade saw this region spurting many commercial high-rises.
2. Mumbai's Secret Underground Tunnel.
On a totally different note, recently, an underground secret tunnel had been discovered below Mumbai's General Post Office(GPO), which is said to be built by the Britishers as an underground escape passage route leading to the then Bombay Fort, fearing attacks from the Napolean. I don't think a lot of Mumbaikars know about this. In June 2010, a curious query by one of our newspaper’s reporters to a ward boy in St George’s Hospital, Fort, led to the discovery of this best-kept secret: a tunnel which begins underneath it and possibly has outlets at the Gateway of India and Churchgate.
3.What lies under Nariman point, one of the most expensive places in the world is actually debris.
Prior to 1940, the area was part of the Arabian sea. A popular leader of the Congress, Khurshid Nariman (affectionately called Veer Nariman), a Parsi Mumbai Municipal Corporation corporator, proposed to reclaim the area from the sea near Churchgate. To accomplish this task, debris from various parts of the city was dumped here and the shallow sea coast was filled. Reinforced concrete cement was used, of which the imported steel used was obtained from the black market at a higher price due to the World War II.The entire cost was estimated to be 3 lakhs or 300,000 (now 10 crores or 100,000,000) Additional reclamations were carried out in the 1970s. A construction boom in that decade saw this region spurting many commercial high-rises.
This is not Manhattan but Nariman Point, Mumbai the commercial hub city of India
4.The Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai
The architect of Taj Mahal hotel committed suicide. When WA Stevens, who designed the Taj Mahal Hotel at Apollo Bunder, finally saw the building he was so appalled that he committed suicide by jumping off the dome. Why? Because it was built back-to-the-front. According to his design, the side that faces the Arabian Sea was actually supposed to face Wellington Circle (now Regal Circle).
OTHER SECRETS OF MUMBAI AS TOLD BY MUMBAICKERS
5.The artificially most inflated property business of Mumbai
Mumbai's best kept secret is without a doubt its residential property bubble since last several years.
Developers, investors, agents and all profiting from rise in prices have successfully been able to create the idea in the mind of people that housing prices in Mumbai can keep rising indefinitely no matter how high the prices are or how fast they have risen already or whether the prices have gone past affordability or not. So, it is a widespread belief that it is not possible to lose money when buying real estate in Mumbai. However, every market has highs and lows, ups and downs. This is indicated by the fall in real estate sales, rising inventories, the fact that half the flats are being bought by investors and also by low rental yields.
6. The Ulhasnagar Sindhis from Pakistan
After the Partition of India on 15 August 1947, over 100,000 Sindhi refugees from the newly created Pakistan were relocated in the military camps five kilometres from Kalyan in the Bombay metropolitan region. It was converted into a township in 1949, and named Ulhasnagar by the then Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari.
7. The truth of Bombay and Vidarbha The state of Maharashtra wouldn't have existed with Mumbai as its capital had Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the RSS, Moraoji Dessai (who later became PM and who was then the CM of Bombay state) had their say. Supported by the Gujrati & Marwari traders who controlled most of the business and workers from South India, the plan was to have a cosmopolitan state of Bombay and a Marathi speaking state of Vidarbha which would include parts of Hyderabad as well.
5.The artificially most inflated property business of Mumbai
Mumbai's best kept secret is without a doubt its residential property bubble since last several years.
Developers, investors, agents and all profiting from rise in prices have successfully been able to create the idea in the mind of people that housing prices in Mumbai can keep rising indefinitely no matter how high the prices are or how fast they have risen already or whether the prices have gone past affordability or not. So, it is a widespread belief that it is not possible to lose money when buying real estate in Mumbai. However, every market has highs and lows, ups and downs. This is indicated by the fall in real estate sales, rising inventories, the fact that half the flats are being bought by investors and also by low rental yields.
6. The Ulhasnagar Sindhis from Pakistan
After the Partition of India on 15 August 1947, over 100,000 Sindhi refugees from the newly created Pakistan were relocated in the military camps five kilometres from Kalyan in the Bombay metropolitan region. It was converted into a township in 1949, and named Ulhasnagar by the then Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari.
7. The truth of Bombay and Vidarbha The state of Maharashtra wouldn't have existed with Mumbai as its capital had Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the RSS, Moraoji Dessai (who later became PM and who was then the CM of Bombay state) had their say. Supported by the Gujrati & Marwari traders who controlled most of the business and workers from South India, the plan was to have a cosmopolitan state of Bombay and a Marathi speaking state of Vidarbha which would include parts of Hyderabad as well.
8. History of the creation of Maharashtra and Gujarat
It was only due to the efforts of Sanyukta Maharashtra Samiti who strongly lobbied, criticized the ruling class and fought a war similar to independence that the state of Maharastra got created with Mumbai in it in 1960. Not just that, Gujrat was also carved out of the Gujrati speaking part of the state of Bombay.9. Hutatma Chowk
Before that happened, plenty of blood was shed. In January 1960, demonstrators were fired upon by the police at Flora Fountain in the capital city of Mumbai. Flora Fountain was subsequently renamed Hutatma Chowk or "Martyr's Crossroads" in their memory. 105 people died and it was comparable to the much spoken aboutJallianwallah Bagh Massacre by the Britishers in Punjab.10. The Shiv Sena
The Shiv Sena