Abducted Nigerian girls 'seen alive'

More than 50 of the girls abducted by
militant Islamists in Nigeria last year were
seen alive three weeks ago, a woman has
told the BBC.

She saw the girls in the north-eastern
Gwoza town before the Boko Haram
militants were driven out of there by regional
forces.

Boko Haram sparked global outrage when it
seized more than 219 girls from Chibok town
a year ago.

The US, China and other foreign powers
promised to help find the girls.
However, the girls have never been traced,
and little has been heard of them since they
were taken from their boarding school.
The whereabouts of the remaining girls is
not clear.

'Big house'

Campaign group Bring Back Our Girls
organised a silent march in Nigeria's capital,
Abuja, on Wednesday to raise public
awareness about the abductions.
A year-long campaign for the release of
the girls has not yet been successful
In an open letter, Nobel Peace Prize winner
Malala Yousafzai called on Nigeria's
authorities and the international community
to do more to secure the release of the girls.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has
said the girls have been converted to Islam
and married off, fuelling concern that the
militants had treated them as war booty and
sex-slaves.
Mr Shekau has pledged allegiance to the
Islamic State (IS), which is also notorious
for carrying out abductions in Iraq and Syria.
The Nigerian woman, who lived under Boko
Haram's rule in Gwoza, told the BBC she
saw the girls in Islamic attire, being
escorted by the militants.
"They said they were Chibok girls kept in a
big house," said the woman, who asked not
to be identified for fear of reprisals.
"We just happened to be on the same road
with them," she added.

'Treated better'

Three other women also told the BBC they
had seen the girls in Gwoza.
Boko Haram was believed to have turned
Gwoza into its headquarters after it captured
the town in August 2014.
Nigeria's military, backed by troops from
neighbouring countries, recaptured the town
last month.

The militants were suspected to have fled to
the nearby Mandara Mountains, near the
border with Cameroon.
It is unclear whether the girls are with them
there.

Another woman told the BBC she last saw
some of the girls in November at a Boko
Haram camp in Bita village, also in the
north-east.

"About a week after they were brought to the
camp, one of us peeked through a window
and asked: 'Are you really the Chibok girls?'
and they said: 'Yes'. We believed them and
didn't ask them again," the woman said.
"They took Koranic lessons, cleaned their
compound, cooked for themselves and they
braided each others' hair. They were treated
differently - their food [was] better and water
clean. "

Nigeria's outgoing President Goodluck
Jonathan has been widely criticised for not
doing enough to end the six-year insurgency
in the north-east, and to secure the freedom
of the girls.
Incoming President Muhammadu Buhari has
vowed to "crush" the insurgents.
He is due to be inaugurated on 29 May after
defeating Mr Jonathan in last month's
presidential elections.