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Chibok girls freed in Nigeria tell of servitude and starvation

ABUJA (Nigeria) — They were taken deep into the Sambisa Forest to Boko Haram’s stronghold, where the more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok were offered a choice: Join the militants, or become their slaves.

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, right, receives  some of the freed Chibok school girls at the state  House in Abuja, Nigeria, on Oct 13, 2016.  Photo via AP

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, right, receives some of the freed Chibok school girls at the state House in Abuja, Nigeria, on Oct 13, 2016. Photo via AP

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ABUJA (Nigeria) — They were taken deep into the Sambisa Forest to Boko Haram’s stronghold, where the more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok were offered a choice: Join the militants, or become their slaves.

About half of them opted to join and marry the fighters and were taken away, never to be heard from.

Those who refused endured more than two years of servitude, washing, fetching water and cooking for Boko Haram.

The girls, nearly all of them Christians, lived in grass huts and were forced to convert to Islam. At first they ate rice and maize.

But then food became scarce. During their captivity in the forest, a few of them died.

These were the stories that parents of the schoolgirls from Chibok heard on Sunday (Oct 16) from 21 of the girls who were released last week after the Nigerian government negotiated their freedom.

The girls are in the custody of the secret police, and they are receiving medical and psychological care, government officials said.

They were scheduled to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday.

Mr Buhari, who took office a year ago, had pledged during his campaign to find the girls. Officials have said they expect more girls to be released soon.

As many as 276 girls were taken in April 2014 when members of Boko Haram stormed their boarding school during exam week.

About 50 of them escaped in the initial days after the abduction, but before last week only one had been found since: Amina Ali, who was discovered this year roaming in the forest with a baby.

Boko Haram fighters have captured and killed large groups of other schoolchildren, but the kidnapping of the students from Chibok caught the world’s attention, fueled by a #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.

On Sunday, people from Chibok who met with the girls said they looked gaunt.

“They’ve just become like skeletons,” said Ms Yana Galang, a mother of a still-missing girl and a community leader of the Chibok parents.

Some parents who met with the girls said they had reported that one of the schoolgirls in their group of about 100 died of a snakebite, one died in childbirth (their encampment included male hostages, too) and four died in a bombing. NEW YORK TIMES

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