In mid-April, more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Nigeria by a group of terrorists calling themselves "Boko Haram," roughly meaning "Western education is sin" in the Hausa language.
While nearly 50 of the girls have escaped, at least 200 still remain missing, according to most reports. As the local communities in Chibok, Borno State, continue to suffer from this great loss, the international community has responded with an outpouring of support and condolences. A social media campaign, #BringBackOurGirls, has developed to keep this story on the minds of the world's leaders, who remain unable or unwilling to act in unity to bring justice to Chibok.
In more recent news, the Boko Haram were reported to be forcing the schoolgirls, aged 16-18, to marry them in what has been called a "medieval kind of slavery." But the terrorists have largely been difficult to locate, as some of the Boko Haram have crossed Lake Chad to enter Cameroon.
URI Africa Regional Coordinator Mussie Hailu offers this statement of support for the safe return of the abducted girls:
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings of peace and blessing from Africa.
United Religions Initiative Africa express its deep concern on the kidnapping of more than 200 secondary school girls from Chibok, Borno State in Nigeria and call on Boko Haram to have mercy on the kidnapped students and for the immediately release of the school girls still in the captivity.
URI Africa is pleading with the abductors of the school girls to have sympathy and to consider the plights of the innocent girls and their parents and to free them from captivity as soon as possible.
URI Africa is praying for all the girls who are in captivity to be free and reunited with their families.
MAY PEACE PREVAIL IN NIGERIA.
In peace and gratitude,
Mussie Hailu
