At least some of the schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram in northeastern Kenya have been taken across the borders into neighboring countries.  Although a few girls managed to free themselves after the kidnapping two weeks ago, some 230 are still missing.

The girls – mostly aged 16 to 18 years old – were about to take final exams at the Government Girls’ Secondary School (GGSS) in the town of Chibok when Boko Haram attacked on 14 April.  It’s reminiscent of the Taliban attacking schools or other sub-Saharan African warlords kidnapping children for canon fodder – the point is to undermine and dismantle society at its root and build a new reality according to the terrorists’ doctrine.

Chibok community leader Pogo Bitrus says Boko Haram gunmen had been seen crossing with the girls into Cameroon and Chad.  There were also reports that the insurgents had married some of the girls.

“We learned that one of the ‘grooms’ brought his ‘wife’ to a neighboring town in Cameroon and kept her there,” Bitrus said.  “I’m crying now as community leader to alert the world to what's happening so that some pressure would be brought to bear on government to act.”

The terrible situation has attraction the attention of Malala Yousefzai, the Pakistani teen who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban only to rise to worldwide prominence as a champion of girls’ education.  Malala says Nigeria’s federal government should understand its responsibility to rescue the abducted girls.

“I was depressed to hear the news that female schoolgirls were abducted.  The world should put all hands on deck to rescue the innocent girls from the Boko Haram sect,” said Malala, rejecting the doctrine of Boko Haram, whose name means “western education is forbidden”.

“Female education is compulsory and their responsibility is on all tiers of government.  Islam accepts female education and any person that is against that is not a true Muslim,” she added.