Nigeria’s military has located nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists, but fears using force to try to free them could get them killed, the country’s chief of defense said on Monday.
Air Marshal Alex Badeh told demonstrators supporting the much criticized military that Nigerian troops can save the girls.
However, he added: “We can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back.”
He spoke to thousands of demonstrators who marched to the Defense Ministry headquarters in Abuja, the capital.
Many were brought in on buses, indicating it was an organized event.
Asked by reporters where they had found the girls, Badeh refused to elaborate.
“We want our girls back. I can tell you we can do it. Our military can do it. But where they are held, can we go with force?” he asked the crowd.
People roared back, “No!”
“If we go with force what will happen?” Badeh said.
“They will die,” the demonstrators responded.
That appeared to leave negotiation the sole option, but a human rights activist close to negotiators said a deal to swap the girls for detained Boko Haram members was agreed last week and then scuttled at the last minute by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.
The activist who is close to those mediating between Boko Haram and government officials — and who spoke on condition of anonymity — said the girls would have been freed on Monday last week.
Nigeria’s military and government have faced national and international outrage over their failure to rescue the girls seized by Boko Haram militants from a remote northeastern school six weeks ago.
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