The Devil in Nigeria: Boko Haram's Reign of Terror

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/boko-haram-continues-to-terrorize-northern-nigeria-a-972282.html



A former Boko Haram kidnapping victim helping Nigerian officials recently found two of the schoolgirls kidnapped in the country. The search for the others remains a desperate one and has also cast light on a destitution rampant in the country's northern states.

The Devil in Nigeria: Boko Haram's Reign of Terror
By Bartholomäus Grill and Toby Selander
May 30, 2014 – 04:55 PM

The two girls had been tied and were found lying in a clearing in the bush, their faces scratched and bleeding, their school uniforms torn. "They were hardly conscious," says Baba Goni. "They were crying and said that their kidnappers had raped them."

Goni, a thin, 15-year-old boy from the area, had been combing the Baale region of northeastern Nigeria with a civilian militia on that day. They were searching for the schoolgirls the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram had abducted from their boarding school in the city of Chibok on April 14.

Some of the 276 kidnapped girls have now escaped, including four this week, while 223 remain missing. Those who managed to get away have leveled serious accusations, saying that they were put at the mercy of the kidnappers when the teachers simply left the school, without helping them. The Nigerian military and police have been searching for the girls for weeks, creating a confused and helpless impression in the process. There is still no reliable information today on the whereabouts of the abducted girls.

Goni, who was held by Boko Haram for two years, is more familiar than government forces with the countryside around Chibok and the kidnappers. One night, the terrorists raided his village, Kachalla Burari, shot and killed his uncle, who was lying in bed next to him, and dragged the boy into the Zambisa forest. He was kept in a camp, where he was forced to work for the murderous organization, fetching water, gathering firewood and cleaning weapons.