2 Years After Chibok Girls Taken, a 'Proof of Life' Video

But government skeptical it was shot recently
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2016 6:24 AM CDT
Updated Apr 14, 2016 7:01 AM CDT

Thursday marks an awful anniversary for families of the nearly 300 girls kidnapped from their school in Nigeria: It's been exactly two years since Boko Haram staged the mass abduction in Chibok. Now, a video has emerged that appears to show some of the girls, a "proof of life" video apparently taken for use in negotiations, reports CNN, which obtained it. The clip shows 15 of the girls stating their names, and one says that "all" the girls are well. Families and friends confirm it's legit. "The moment I saw them and recognized their faces—Saratu Ayuba, Jummai Mutah, and Kwazigu Hamman—I started crying, with tears of joy rolling down from my eyes, thanking God for their lives," one girl who managed to escape tells the AP. However, it's not clear when the video was shot.

One of the girls in it states that she is speaking in December 2015, but the Nigerian government says it may have been taken soon after the kidnapping and thus means little. "As long as we have not closed our search for the girls, of course we’ll keep talking," a government official tells the New York Times. But "most of these claims, they turn out not to be true." The militant group kidnapped 276 girls, but about 50 managed to escape fairly quickly. The rest have not been seen since. "My Saratu!" one mother says of her now 17-year-old daughter, upon seeing her in the video. "If I could, I would have removed her from the screen." (More missing girls stories.)

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