Updated 15th May, 2014
The World Evangelical Alliance has urged Christians around the world to continue praying for the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls who are being held captive by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
Urging people to continue praying, Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, secretary general of the WEA, said it was outrageous a militant group used such “inhumane tactics as a means to cause fear and insecurity among people in their attempt to exercise their political will”.
“We appreciate the worldwide media attention that this latest incident has received as well as the rising awareness in the international community, even though we are aware that this terrible practice has been going on for decades in smaller numbers,” he said.
Aiah Foday-Khabenje, general secretary of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa – a regional WEA body, asked the church to “continue praying fervently until the girls are released”.
“The kidnap of the Nigerian schoolgirls is not concealed from God and we believe He can move, in the name of Jesus through His Holy Spirit, to bring back the girls. My prayer is that Boko Haram – which is also made up of people created in the image of God – will themselves have the fear of God and voluntarily release the girls to go back to their homes and families.”
The WEA has released a prayer written by the Evangelical Alliance of the United Kingdom. (The prayer, along with the names of those kidnapped, can be found here).
The move comes as the international effort to see the girls freed gains pace with special forces teams from the US, UK, Israel, France and Canada now reportedly assisting the Nigerian Government to release the schoolgirls. In Australia, the Federal Government has announced it will designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation as is the case in the US.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Nigerian Government – which has offered a 50 million naira ($US300,000) reward for information leading to the rescue of the girls – has been reported as saying they were willing to open talks with Boko Haram. President Goodluck Jonathan has, however, rejected the idea of a prisoner swap.
A group of about 130 of the girls was seen in a video released this week by their captors. All were wearing Muslim dress and two said they had converted to Islam.
As many as 276 girls were abducted from their school in the village of Chibok on 14th April and a further eight in the early May. Some have since escaped but more than 200 remain captives.
Meanwhile, at least 100 people were killed in an attack earlier this month on the north-east Nigerian town of Gamboru Ngala, located in the same region where the girls were kidnapped. There were unconfirmed reports that the attack occurred after troops protecting the town were redeployed in the hunt for the kidnapped girls.
Amid growing global outrage over the kidnappings, social media campaigns have been launched featuring the hashtags #bringbackourgirls and #bringbackourdaughters. Prominent supporters of the campaign include US First Lady Michelle Obama who said during the president’s weekly radio address she and her husband were “outraged” and “heartbroken” over the kidnappings.
