Call for Nigeria to negotiate release of kidnapped girls

Nigeria's government must speedily negotiate the release of 195 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists nearly three years ago, the Bring Back Our Girls movement said.

The movement also asked why two dozen Chibok girls who were freed last year have been held for months of alleged rehabilitation instead of being reunited with their families.

Bring Back Our Girls said Nigeria's government has failed to respond to its questions and suggestions laid out in a January letter.

Boko Haram's mass abduction of 276 girls from a boarding school in April 2014 caused international outrage and led to promises to help free them from around the world.

Dozens escaped on their own within hours, and 21 were freed in October through negotiations with Boko Haram.

"Regarding the girls that are back from terrorist captivity, it remains a puzzle to us that even their parents are not very informed on what the programme of rehabilitation that the federal government is allegedly implementing seeks to achieve," the group said.

The group published a letter it sent to the government on January 23, saying it had never been answered.

"We are not satisfied with the conduct of the federal government and the military establishment," the letter said, citing a "failure of leadership" to organise a rescue.

AP