OE Watch Commentary: On 15 January the excerpted article appeared in the Nigerian publication Vanguard. It discussed a video Boko Haram released showing a group of 14 of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok, Nigeria in April 2014. Wearing blue niqabs and with three of them holding babies, one of the girls spoke to the camera and said that the Boko Haram leader Abubakr Shekau had married them off and taken care of them and that they no longer wanted to return home. The article notes that there is no way to tell whether the girls were under duress or speaking voluntarily but the video came nearly a year after the last exchange of 82 schoolgirls in May 2017 between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government and one month after one of the Chibok schoolgirls was found near the border with Cameroon. After the exchange in May 2017 Boko Haram released a similar video with four girls wearing black niqabs in which they held guns and also said they did not want to return home.
The latest video, like the May 2017 video, is part of psychological operation by Boko Haram against Nigerian society and the government. There are currently no reports of negotiations underway between the Nigerian government or international organizations and Boko Haram, as was the case when the last exchange was made with Boko Haram. This could mean this video indicates the door on negotiations has been sealed.
Whether or not the girls have Stockholm syndrome, their fate will be in the hands of Boko Haram for the foreseeable future. Only a rescue operation or revived negotiations with Boko Haram may allow them to be free again. However, even if free, it is unclear whether some of the girls featured in the videos would indeed want to leave their Boko Haram captors and new so-called husbands and whether they would be able to reintegrate once back home. End OE Watch Commentary (Zenn)