Not All Girls In Video Were Taken In April 14 Raid, Some Relatives Say

Some of the girls shown in a Boko Haram video released this week may not have been taken in the April 14 mass abduction in Chibok, Nigeria, relatives of some of the girls said.
Instead, some of the girls may have been taken in abductions dating back at least two years, an uncle of one of the girls who escaped and the parents of two missing girls said. Two parents have identified their daughters in the video, human rights lawyer Femi Falana told CNN Tuesday.
But it's unclear if anyone else has. Many of the relatives who watched the video released by French news agency Agence France-Presse could not identify their daughters.
Parents of the missing girls in Mbalala district and also in Chibok said on Tuesday that more than 50 parents of girls abducted April 14 who watched the video did not recognize their daughters.
The video purports to show about 100 of the 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters on April 14.

The revelation only adds to the confusion surrounding the abduction, which has gained worldwide attention. And the main question remains the same: Wherever the abducted girls are, what can be done to free them?
Shehu Sani, a former negotiator between Boko Haram and the government, has called for the Nigerian authorities to negotiate with the girls' Islamist captors -- and says they may have to embrace the unpalatable option of a prisoner swap.

"There are two ways to which you can get these girls free," Sani said show.
"The first is to use force and the second is through dialogue. The use of force is not an option for now in the sense that nobody knows where these girls were kept.
"And even if you know, these girls have been embedded in with the insurgents who are heavily armed. And any attempt to rescue them will be putting their lives in further danger."

In separate shots included in the 27-minute AFP video, a man who identifies himself as Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says he will release the girls only after imprisoned members of Boko Haram are freed.
Nigerian officials claimed Monday that Shekau is dead. Other experts say the notorious terror group leader is still alive.
The director of the National Orientation Agency, a government information ministry, said negotiation could be an option.
When asked whether all options were on the table, agency director Mike Omeri said yes.
"The government of Nigeria will continue to explore all options for the release and safe return of our girls back to their respective homes," Omeri said.

Girls' lives 'more important'
Sani, who is a human rights activist in northern Nigeria, believes the authorities have little choice.

"I believe that the lives of these girls is more important to us than the insurgents that have been in detention. And we have nothing to lose if we send the -- insurgents and we can swap them with these girls back," he said.
The man purporting to be Shekau appeared to open the door to such a resolution.
"By Allah, these girls will not leave our hands until you release our brothers in your prison," he says. "You took our brothers four or five years ago, and now they are in your prisons. You do many things, and now you talk of these girls. We will not let them go until you release our brothers."
But he also says he still plans to sell them into slavery.

Case not clear cut
While negotiations may be an option in some hostage crises, this case may not be so clear cut.
Rights groups have accused Nigeria of using heavy-handed tactics such as illegal searches, torture and extrajudicial killings to crack down on the militants.
As a result, it has eroded trust between the two sides, prompting Shekau to say he "will not enter a truce with infidels," U.S. lawmakers said last year.
Boko Haram members who try to negotiate with the government may also get beheaded.
"Reports of beheadings seem to go up when there are talks of negotiation. It is plausible that many of these beheadings, which rose in frequency in early 2012, are purges of moderate members who have complained or attempted to negotiate," U.S. lawmakers said.

Experts comb footage for clues
If authentic, the video released Monday is the first glimpse of perhaps some of the girls since Boko Haram fighters snatched them from a boarding school in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok.
Filmed in a nondescript clearing surrounded by scrub and trees, the girls appear dressed in gray or black veils. Many look nervous or under duress. In one shot, a girl almost whispers a line from the Quran.
In separate shots filmed against a green backdrop, the man who claims to be Shekau says the girls have converted to Islam.

Some observers see the release of the video as a positive sign.
Not only would it prove that at least some girls are alive and unharmed, said retired U.S. Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks, a CNN military analyst, it also gives intelligence analysts something with which to work.
Nigerian government officials also took notice. The governor of the state where Chibok is located, Borno, ordered officials to distribute the video to parents to help identify the girls.
While experts analyze the video, the international effort to find the girls is gaining steam.
U.S. and British officials are in the capital of Abuja to help look for the girls, plan possible rescue missions and advise on ways to quash the terror group.

The United States is providing manned Defense Department aerial surveillance planes over Nigerian territory and sharing commercial satellite images with Nigeria as part of efforts to find the girls, two senior Obama administration officials told CNN's Elise Labott on Monday.
China and France are also helping in the search. Israel plans to send a team of counterterrorism experts to help, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's office said Sunday.

May 13, 2014