By Matthew Mpoke Bigg
ABUJA (Reuters) - The leader of the Nigerian
Islamist rebel group Boko Haram has said he will release more than 200
schoolgirls abducted by his fighters last month in exchange for
prisoners, according to a video seen by Agence France-Presse on Monday.
The group has killed thousands since 2009 and destabilized parts of northeast Nigeria, the country with Africa's largest population and biggest economy.
The attack has provoked global expressions of outrage, and concern about the fate of the girls deepened when Shekau threatened in a video released earlier this month to sell the girls "in the market".
Around
100 girls wearing full veils and praying are shown in an undisclosed
location in the 17-minute video in which Boko Haram leader Abubakar
Shekau speaks, according to the French news agency.
Militants
fighting for an Islamist state stormed a secondary school in the
northeastern village of Chibok on April 14 and seized 276 girls who were
taking exams. Some managed to escape but around 200 remain missing.The group has killed thousands since 2009 and destabilized parts of northeast Nigeria, the country with Africa's largest population and biggest economy.
The attack has provoked global expressions of outrage, and concern about the fate of the girls deepened when Shekau threatened in a video released earlier this month to sell the girls "in the market".
Nigeria said on Saturday it
had deployed two army divisions to the hunt for the girls while several
nations including the United States, Britain, Israel and France have
offered assistance or sent experts.
The
Nigerian government has been sharply criticized for its response to the
abductions but President Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday that
international military and intelligence assistance made him optimistic
about finding the girls.
French
President Francois Hollande on Sunday offered to host a summit in Paris
next Saturday with Nigeria and its neighbors focused on the militant
group.
The leaders of Benin,
Cameroon, Chad and Niger might also attend and Britain, the European
Union and the United States would probably be represented as well,
Hollande's aides said.
The
mass abduction of schoolgirls has touched a chord around the world, and
triggered a support campaign using the Twitter hashtag
#BringBackOurGirls.
(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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