Nobel
Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai called for global action to help
release more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram as
the Nigerian militant group intensified its campaign along the northern
border with Niger Sunday. Yousafzai, an education activist who gained
international attention after being shot by a Taliban gunman on a school
bus in 2012, criticized world leaders for not doing enough to rescue
the school girls who were kidnapped 300 days ago and urged Nigeria’s
incoming government to make the girls a priority, the Guardian reported.
“Nigerian leaders and the international community can and
must do much more to resolve this crisis and change their weak response
to date,” she wrote in a post on her website. “Politicians running for
office in the upcoming March elections should not only demonstrate their
empathy but finally take some responsibility for this tragedy. The
leaders of Nigeria should commit to
work together and make the case of
the Chibok girls a priority in their first 100 days in office, as well
as the education of every Nigerian child.”
Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, also published an open
letter Sunday calling on Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to take
“resolute action” to rescue the girls from Boko Haram, ABC reported. The Pakistani education advocate argued it was the Nigerian government’s duty to bring all of the girls home alive and safe.
The abduction of the school girls in April drew
international attention to the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria’s northeast
and put pressure on Jonathan’s government to address the growing
insurgency. Despite its pledge to save the girls, the Nigerian
government has yet to make progress on the issue and has been criticized
for allowing the Boko Haram crisis to escalate. The group has operated
increasingly outside its stronghold in the northeast, moving across
Nigeria’s borders into neighboring countries, including Chad, Niger and
Cameroon.
At least five people were killed in southeastern Niger
Sunday after a suspected Boko Haram bomber targeted a market in the town
of Diffa, Reuters reported.
The attack is the second by the militant group in the area in the past
three days as a force of 2,500 Chadians prepared to launch a joint
military offensive with other regional powers. Nigeria's government has
cited the security issues sparked by the group's violence in justifying
its decision Saturday to postpone the country's scheduled Feb. 14
election by a month.
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