07:02 09/07/2015
Abuja - President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday held his first
meeting with campaigners calling for the release of more than 200
schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants in the northeastern town of
Chibok last year.
The militant group, whose six-year insurgency
has seen thousands killed in the country, caused an international outcry
when it took the girls from secondary school dormitories in April 2014.
Buhari praised members of the Bring Back Our Girls group for their efforts to prevent the missing children being forgotten.
"Nobody
in Nigeria or outside could have missed your consistency and
persistence," said Buhari during the meeting at his presidential villa
in the capital, Abuja.
"I
think you will agree that the present government takes the issue very
seriously," he said, adding that the military was working with
neighbouring countries to ensure a regional task force could fight the
insurgency.
Earlier
this year an Amnesty International report said that Boko Haram had
kidnapped at least 2,000 Nigerian women and girls since the start of
2014, many of whom were sexually abused or trained to fight.
In a
statement, the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners said the safe return of
the schoolgirls would "amount to the strongest statement that our
government has respect for the sanctity and dignity of every Nigerian
life".
The frequency of attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants
in northern states has increased since the president vowed in his
inauguration speech of May 29 that the group would be crushed.
More
than 200 people died in a string of attacks last week and dozens more
have been killed in northern Nigeria and Chad in the last few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment