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60 Girls And Women, 31 Boys Said To Be Abducted In Nigerian Kidnapping

60 Girls And Women, 31 Boys Said To Be Abducted In Nigerian Kidnapping

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

JOHANNESBURG — At least 91 people — more than 60 women and girls, and 31 school boys — were abducted last week by suspected Boko Haram militants, two months after the terror group kidnapped more than 300 schoolgirls in northeastern Nigeria, according to witnesses.

Local media reported about 60 people were abducted in attacks on villages south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, between Thursday and Saturday.

The attack comes as more than 270 school girls are still held by Boko Haram, more than two months after their abductions from a school in Chibok town in April. Several dozen of the girls managed to escape.

About 30 people were reported to have been killed by the extremists in the latest attack. Elderly residents fled their homes, trekking 15 miles to seek help.

Among those abducted by gunmen were women with young children and babies — a common occurrence in Borno state since last year, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported.

Boko Haram, a violent Islamist militia, fighting for an Islamic state in Nigeria, stepped up its attacks beginning five years ago and has recently launched violent raids on villages, markets, bus stations, churches and schools.

Nigeria has also seen bomb attacks on soccer fans watching world cup soccer matches at public soccer viewing venues, which have been blamed on Boko Haram.

Last week’s attacks were on Kummabza, Yaga and Dagu, in the Damboa local government area, according to witnesses cited in local media reports.

Nigerian local and federal government officials and police haven’t confirmed the reports. But Premium Times quoted an unnamed federal security official who confirmed the abductions took place, while a village councilor confirmed the kidnappings to Associated Press.

Attacks on villages in northeastern Nigeria have been occurring almost daily, with Nigeria’s army seemingly incapable of enforcing security in vast swathes of the country.

The abductions of the Chibok schoolgirls put intense international pressure on Nigeria’s government and military to recover the girls and restore security in the northeast. Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, released a chilling video in which he threatened to sell the schoolgirls as slaves.

But Nigerian authorities appear to lack the will or capacity to overcome the security crisis. Boko Haram has demanded the release of prisoners in return for surrendering the Chibok girls but Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has ruled out negotiating with terrorists. Military commanders have said a military-style rescue is impractical because it would result in the deaths of many of the hostages.

Given the deadlock, Nigerians are questioning how the girls will be released.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said earlier this month that he had been trying to negotiate the release of the girls, but had been given no support from the Nigerian government. He said it would be a “near-miracle” if all the girls were returned to their parents alive.

Obasanjo said the government should have acted immediately after the girls were taken in order to secure their release.

Nigeria’s military have been strongly criticized for failing to intervene to protect villages under attack and for failing to take steps to recover the missing girls.

Nigerian authorities have accused activists who have been campaigning for the girls’ release under the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls of being aligned with Nigeria’s opposition, and acting out of political motives, claims the activists have denied.

©afp.com / Robert MacPherson

Nigeria Boko Haram Militants Kidnap Eight More Girls

Nigeria Boko Haram Militants Kidnap Eight More Girls

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) – Suspected Boko Haram Islamists have kidnapped eight more girls from Nigeria’s embattled northeast, residents said on Tuesday, after the extremist group’s leader claimed responsibility for abducting more than 200 schoolgirls last month.

“They moved door to door looking for girls,” said Abdullahi Sani, referring to the late Sunday attack in the village of Warabe, Borno state. “They forcefully took away eight girls between the ages of 12 and 15.”

Sani, a Warabe resident, spoke to AFP by phone from Gwoza, a town six miles away where he and others fled after the attack, which he blamed on Boko Haram.

He said the attackers did not kill anyone, which was “surprising,” and suggested that abducting girls was the motive for the attack.

The gunmen torched parts of the village, he said.

Another Warabe resident who also fled to Gwoza, Peter Gambo, confirmed Sani’s account of the attack and said the military had not yet provided any protection.

“We in Gwoza are also living in fear because of the kidnap of eight girls in Warabe,” he told AFP. “We have no security here. If the gunmen decide to pick our own girls nobody can stop them.”

Police in Borno did not respond to calls or text messages seeking comment, and state government spokesman Isa Gusau told AFP he was not aware of the attack.

The targeted area is 100 miles from Borno’s state capital of Maiduguri, where Boko Haram was founded more than a decade ago.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said his fighters carried out the April 14 abduction of more than 200 girls from Chibok, also in Borno, and threatened to sell them as slaves in a video obtained by AFP on Monday.

AFP Photo/Pius Utomi Ekpei

For Many Teens, Formal Sex Education Comes Too Late, CDC Report Says

For Many Teens, Formal Sex Education Comes Too Late, CDC Report Says

By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Health experts have some simple advice for reducing the teen birthrate in the U.S. — make sure teens learn about abstinence and birth control before they start having sex.

It sounds obvious, but it’s obviously needed, according to a report released Tuesday by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among teen girls who were sexually experienced, 83 percent told interviewers that they didn’t get formal sex education until after they’d lost their virginity.

Altogether, 91 percent of young women between the ages of 15 and 17 said they’d taken a formal sex education class that covered information about birth control or ways to say no to sex (and 61 percent said they’d learned about both). In addition, 76 percent of girls in this age group discussed one or both of these topics with their parents.

But timing is everything. The fact that most sexually active young women didn’t get clued in about abstinence or birth control until after they’d had sex “represents a missed opportunity to introduce medically accurate information,” the researchers wrote.

The study, published online in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, noted that:

—14.6 percent of 15-year-olds had ever had sex, including 8 percent who were sexually active in the previous three months;

—28.5 percent of 16-year-olds had ever had sex, including 16.5 percent who were sexually active in the previous three months; and

—38.6 percent of 17-year-olds had ever had sex, including 29.7 percent who were sexually active in the previous three months.

Only 15 percent of these teens used a birth control method that was deemed at least “moderately” effective the first time they had sex, including the pill, vaginal ring, IUD or hormonal implant. Another 62 percent used a “less effective” method, such as condoms, sponges, the rhythm method or withdrawal. The remaining 23 percent said they didn’t use any type of contraception when they lost their virginity, the researchers reported.

Overall, the teen birthrate continued to decline, according to data from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System. In 2012, the birthrate hit an all-time low of 29.4 per 1,000 women between 15 and 19. (In 1991, there were 84.1 births for every 1,000 women in that age group.)

The birthrate declined even more among the subset of teens who are not yet legal adults. For every 1,000 15-year-olds, 5.4 babies were born in 2012 (down from 17.9 in 1991). Among 16-year-olds, the birthrate was 12.9 in 2012 (down from 36.9 in 1991), and for 17-year-olds it was 23.7 in 2012 (down from 60.6 in 1991).

Birthrates among these younger teens varied significantly by state and by race and ethnic group, the CDC researchers found. The District of Columbia had the highest rate, at 29 births per 1,000 women 15 to 17. At the other end of the spectrum was New Hampshire, with 6.2 births per 1,000.

Nationwide, Latina teens had the highest birthrate, at 25.5 births per 1,000 women 15 to 17. Asian-American teens had the lowest birthrate in this age group, at 4.1. In the middle were whites (8.4), Native Americans (17) and African-Americans (21.9), according to the report.

The study did not include data on births to girls under 15. It also excluded information on miscarriages, abortions and stillbirths, since recent figures for those were not available.

Public health experts are especially concerned about births to younger teens because these mothers “are at greatest risk for poor medical, social, and economic outcomes,” the researchers noted. Among other challenges, new mothers in this age group are significantly less likely to finish high school than teens who gave birth at age 18 or 19.

About one in four teen births is to a young woman between 15 and 17, according to the CDC. Every week, nearly 1,700 babies are born to mothers in this age group.

 Shameless Magazine via Flickr.com birth control