April 22, 2014

Where are the missing schoolgirls? And who still cares?

located:	Nigeria
editor:	Vanessa Ellingham

Last week terrorists broke into a school in north-eastern Nigeria, shot guards and kidnapped about 200 schoolgirls. But the incident has been largely overshadowed in the media by a boat sinking near South Korea, where schoolchildren were also victims. What does it take to get the world's media to pay attention to Africa in a meaningful way?

Fighting in the region of Borno, where the Nigerian school is located, had recently seen all schools closed for security reasons. The violence between terrorist group Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces has been going on for some time. Amnesty International says that 1,500 people have been killed in the fighting this year alone.

These schoolgirls had only been called back to school to take a physics exam.

While no one has taken responsibility for the mass abduction, it is assumed to the the work of Boko Haram. Up to 30 girls who escaped said they were piled into trucks and taken towards the forest.