Senegalese Women Protest Nigerian Schoolgirls' Abduction
Dozens of women's rights activists took to the streets of the Senegalese capital Dakar on Monday to denounce the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria by Islamist militants.
Members of 20 organisations who had come together near the Nigerian embassy were moved on by police after less than an hour as the protest had not been authorized, but two were allowed into the embassy to submit a letter of protest.
"We want to show our solidarity and indignation and add our voices to the unanimous denunciation," Fatou Kine Camara of the Association of Senegalese Lawyers told reporters in front of around 50 women, mostly dressed in red.
Boko Haram abducted 276 girls on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, and 223 remain missing, according to police.
The group released a new video on Monday claiming to show the teenagers and alleging that the captives had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau speaks on the video for 17 minutes before showing what he says are the girls, in Muslim dress and praying in an undisclosed rural location.
Boko Haram has been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north since 2009, attacking schools teaching a "Western" curriculum, churches and government targets.
Source: Agence France Presse
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