Jonathan’s Secret Negotiator: Chibok Girls Very Ill

Some of the 219 schoolgirls still in the custody of
Boko Haram insurgents have taken ill, according
to a prominent Australian cleric, Dr. Stephen
Davis. Davis, a hostage negotiator, said the online
publication of a British newspaper, The Mail on
Sunday, was hired by President Goodluck
Jonathan to broker the release of the girls.
According to the newspaper, the clergyman who
was once the Canon Emeritus at the Coventry
Cathedral in London and a friend of The
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, has been
in Nigeria working secretly on the release of the
girls for almost a month now.
It added that he was asked by the President to
come to Nigeria after previously brokering a truce
between the Federal Government and Niger Delta
militants in 2004. Along with Welby, he was
frequently blindfolded and held at gunpoint during
his peace work in the Niger Delta. In the email,
Davis revealed he had had ‘‘ongoing contacts’’
with the groups involved in the kidnapping in the
North-East for seven years. He attributed his
success in hostage negotiations in Nigeria to “a
long process of building trust on both sides.
” The Perth-born Australian described how
fraught the negotiation process had been but
expressed optimism that the girls would be freed.
He said, ‘One of that small group of girls is ill and
we had hoped we might convince the commander
of the group holding her that she should be
released so we could give her medical treatment.
‘There are other girls who are not well and we
have come close to having them released but
their captors fear a trap in which they will be
captured in the handover process.
‘One girl has what I assume is a broken wrist as
they demonstrate to me how she holds her hand.
I have been told that others are sick and in need
of medical attention. “But I am encouraged by the
progress.
Every day there is the possibility of the release of
the girls.
‘This is painful for the parents and the nation.
The well-being of the girls is constantly on our
minds and we want to see their release as soon
as possible.
” The secret negotiator however ruled out the
possibility of a rescue since the girls were not
being held in one location.
He said, “There are several groups to deal with
as the girls are held in several camps across the
Nigerian border in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
This makes any thought of a rescue highly
improbable.
To attempt to rescue one group would only
endanger the others.
We must not endanger their lives any further.
“The vast majority of the Chibok girls are not
being held in Nigeria.
“I say the ‘vast majority’as I know a small group
was confirmed to me to be in Nigeria last week
when we sought to have them released.”
Explaining that he had been to military positions
in the North-East in recent days, he said, ‘the
troops and their field commanders are doing all
that can be done at this point.
” Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex
Badeh, said the military knew the location of the
girls and claimed that security agencies had been
‘following them’ since the abduction. Badeh did
not divulge details, saying doing so would put the
girls in further danger.
Sources said Badeh’s claim might have been
the result of government officials seeing a new,
unpublished video allegedly sent by the sect to
President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Sunday Mail also quoted a military source on
Sunday as saying that with most of the girls
outside the shores of Nigeria, ‘any sort of attempt
to get to them would have to be cleared by the
governments of the other nations.
’ The source added, ‘This has been a race against
time from the minute they were captured.
As soon as the girls left Nigerian soil it was
always going to be more difficult.
‘The government made no attempt at a rescue
until a month after they were taken.
Now the situation gets more serious by the day.
” The Mail on Sunday also claimed that the new
recorded video by Boko Haram showed the girls
bravely speaking out about their ordeal for the
first time.
The footage, not released publicly but seen by the
newspaper, was taken in a jungle clearing a
month after the girls were abducted on April 14.
It also confirmed David’s claim that a few of the
girls were ill.
In the video, eight girls, dressed in their school
uniforms of pale blue gingham, plead for release
as they stand in front of a camera. The
newspaper said they were clearly scared, upset
and trying to be brave as they walked in turn to a
spot in front of a white sheet fixed to a frame
between trees. According to the publication, four
of
the girls could be heard in Hausa Language,
stating that they were taken by force and that
they were hungry. One of them aged about 18
said tearfully, “My family will be so worried.”
Another, speaking softly, said, “I never expected
to suffer like this in my life.’ A third said, ‘They
have taken us away by force” and the fourth
complained that, “We
are not getting enough food.” The video, allegedly
taken by an intermediary on May 19, said the
newspaper,
was intended to serve as ‘proof of life’ for the
girls and to Jonathan to accede to the terrorists’
demands. Two earlier videos showed the girls
seated on the ground, dressed in hijabs, reciting
the Koran. In the videos, Boko Haram Leader,
Abubakar Shekau, declared he would sell the girls
into slavery or marry them off to their kidnappers
if members of the sect in detention were not
released. Pressure from the international
community and criticism of the Jonathan’s slow
response to the kidnapping had led to a series of
contradictory pronouncements from his
government. Some ministers have declared that
government would not negotiate with Boko Haram
or consider the release of prisoners, while official
spokesmen said “the window is always open for
dialogue.”