Timeline: Over 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram
Gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram on April 14, 2014, seized 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state.
The Chibok girls have been held by Boko Haram for more than two years
The girls were forced from their dormitories onto trucks and driven into the bush. Reports have it that 57-girls managed to flee.
News broke on Wednesday, May 18, that the first of more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls missing after being kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago has been found.
Below is a timeline of events surrounding the girls’ abduction, according to DW.
April 14, 2014
Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 school girls, most between 16 and 18 years old, from a secondary school in Chibok in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. About 50 of the girls escaped soon after but 219 are still missing.
April 19, 2014
Nigeria’s military said that most of the girls managed to escape or were freed and released a statement saying that only eight girls were still unaccounted for.
Major General Chris Olukolade, a military spokesman, said that the report that most of the girls had been freed was incorrect but was “not intended to deceive the public.” Parents insisted that more than 200 girls were still missing.
READ ALSO: See what was done to the rescued Chibok girl (photos)
Army in search of the Chibok girls
April 23, 2014
The kidnappings prompted Nigerians to take to social media to express their anger at the government’s response. Ibrahim Abdullahi, a lawyer in Abuja, sent the first tweet using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. #bringbackourgirls has been tweeted around 3.3 million times.
May 5, 2014
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video saying his group was behind the abduction of the girls and threatened to sell them in the market as “slaves.”
May 7, 2014
The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag hits one million tweets with US First Lady Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban, joining the online campaign.
Michelle Obama
May 17
Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria vow to fight Boko Haram together, in what Cameroon President Paul Biya terms a “declaration of war”.
The UN Security Council says the kidnappings “may amount to crimes against humanity,” after Britain, China, France, Israel and the US offer help. US military specialists deploy to neighbouring Chad but later move elsewhere after Nigeria stops requesting their services.
May 26
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh says the girls have been located but warns a rescue operation would put their lives at risk.
On October 31, Shekau quashes rumours of a deal with Nigerian authorities and says the girls have converted to Islam and been “married off”.
April 13, 2016
Exactly two years after the abduction, a CNN video showing 15 of the girls was released.
Boko Haram release video of Chibok girls.
May 18, 2016
Amina Ali, one of the the 219 abducted Chibok schoolgirls, was found in the Sambisa Forest by civilian vigilantes assisting the military.
Amina Ali was found by the JTF
“Families of the remaining girls are still hoping for their safe return,” said Jeff Okoroafor, a civil rights activist.
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