Nigeria cautious on kidnap victims

On the first anniversary of the kidnapping by Islamic extremists of hundreds of girls from a school in northeast Nigeria, president-elect Muhammadu Buhari said he cannot promise to find the 219 who are still missing.

“We do not know if the Chibok girls can be rescued. Their whereabouts remain unknown,” Buhari said in a statement. “As much as I wish to, I cannot promise that we can find them.”

The statement by Buhari, a former military ruler of Nigeria who was democratically elected on March 28, is a marked departure from outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan, who, after his administration initially denied there had been a kidnapping, made hollow promises that they would be rescued.