Some good news from afar, amidst all these gloom about Castro’s demise in Ghana.
63 out of 68 women and girls captured last month by Boko Haram are reported to have escaped from the clutches of the Islamist Militant group.
Boko Haram caused a stir in April when they captured over 200 girls who have still not been found to this day. The group also captured 68 more last month near Damboa, a town in Borno State; and it is from this second group of captives that the women and girls are said to have escaped. Five women however, have still not been found.
The captives took the initiative to escape when the Boko Haram members went out to carry out a tactical operation.
They however found themselves in trouble, as the Nigerian Military forces taking them on routed them and the group was forced to mobilise all its members and flee the battle.
The captives then realised that they were alone, took the initiative and escaped the camp.
This is good news to warm the heart, made even better by the announcement of Nigerian forces they killed over fifty rebels in the clash that led to the escape of the girls.
These Boko Haram animals have been terrorising their country for too long, and this recent trend of focusing on capturing women and children, particularly girls is a worrying one.
Those two hundred girls captured over three months ago have not been found, and only God knows what they have gone through all these months as captives of this terrorist group, after all we’ve seen what premium they place on human life.
Reports indicate some of these girls are forced into marrying their captors, whilst those who are not Muslim are forcibly converted to the religion.
One can only imagine what happens to these girls forced into marriages, and the kind of things they might have to do just to survive.
Boko Haram was formed in 2002 and they state their primary aim as to oppose ‘Westernisation’ of their country. As with all terrorist groups, they rarely carry out acts which are in any way correlated to achieving their goals. How does capturing ladies from your own country and forcing them into dehumanising conditions help achieve Boko Haram’s goals?
One more thing, the fixation of social media with a topic; and then forgetting it when a more suitable one comes around. A month ago the refrain was #BringBackOurGirls, now everyone is onto Castro and by next week the next news sensation. Obviously that is the news cycle and how it works, but some issues are worth fighting for a long time after they become ‘dead news’.
#BringBackOurGirls