Boko Haram kidnapped girls ‘married off’

Boko Haram has claimed the 219 schoolgirls it kidnapped in Nigeria in April of this year have converted to Islam and been married off, according to a new video obtained by AFP on Friday.

The Islamist group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, also denied claims by Nigeria’s government that it had agreed to a ceasefire and apparently ruled out future talks.

"Don't you know the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls have converted to Islam? They have now memorised two chapters of the Koran," he said.

"We have married them off. They are in their marital homes," he added.

In a previous statement the group's leader threatened to sell the girls as slave brides and also suggested that he would be prepared to release them in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners.

Moreover, Shekau said the Islamists were holding a German national, who was kidnapped in Adamawa state in northeast Nigeria in July.

The German foreign ministry in Berlin said it did not want to comment when contacted by AFP. Armed gunmen kidnapped the foreigner, who was said to be a teacher at a government technical training centre in Gombi, about 100 kilometers from the Adamawa state capital Yola.

Suspicion immediately fell on Boko Haram, which has repeatedly attacked schools teaching a so-called Western curriculum, as well as teachers and students.

Kidnappings for ransom by criminal gangs are common in the oil-producing south. On 24 October, armed men shot dead one German national and kidnapped another in Ogun state, southwest Nigeria.

The schoolgirls were kidnapped from the remote northeast town of Chibok in Borno state in April, raising global awareness about the group whose five-year insurgency in northern Nigeria has claimed an estimated 13,000 lives.

The new video comes after a surprise announcement by the Nigerian military and presidency on 17 October that a deal had been reached with the militants to end hostilities and return the children.

There was immediate skepticism about both claims. Previous ceasefires have proved fruitless and there is little trust in the influence of the purported Boko Haram envoy, Danladi Ahmadu.

Violence and fresh kidnappings have continued unabated since the announcement, including a triple bombing of a bus station in the northern city of Gombe on Friday that killed at least eight.

Nigeria’s government maintains that talks are ongoing in the Chadian capital, Ndjamena.

But Shekau, speaking in Hausa, dressed in military fatigues and boots with a black turban, and flanked by 15 armed fighters, said: “We have not made ceasefire with anyone.”

“We did not negotiate with anyone... It’s a lie. It’s a lie. We will not negotiate. What is our business with negotiation? Allah said we should not.”

He also said he did not know Danladi.