Boko Haram video of Nigeria kidnapped schoolgirls: Heads bowed and covered, captive girls chant the Koran

Their clothes had been replaced by a new uniform – drab veils of black and grey. One of the girls stepped forward amid the Koranic chanting to state that she and her classmates are unharmed. But her eyes and shaky voice told a story of fear and duress.

Almost a month after they were abducted from their school in northern Nigeria, the first evidence of the fate of about 130 of the stolen girls of Chibok emerged yesterday after Boko Haram released a video alleging the teenagers had converted to Islam.

In a 27-minute film combining purported footage of the schoolchildren with separate footage of its confident leader, the Islamist terror group offered to release some of the girls in return for comrades held by the Nigerian authorities.

The video was an apparent glimpse of what has happened to the children since 276 of them were seized in the dark on 14 April from the school where they were taking exams. Both the location and the date of the footage were unknown.

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In what was also the first sign that their captors may be willing to negotiate as Nigerian forces supported by experts from Western states scour a vast area in search of the girls, the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau suggested they could be traded for the dozens of Islamist militants held in Nigeria’s prisons.

The proposition was initially rejected out of hand by the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, which has been castigated at home for its seemingly lethargic response to the mass kidnapping and an earlier threat by Shekau to sell the girls as brides.

Abba Moro, the Nigerian Interior Minister, told Agence France Presse that the authorities were not prepared to trade the schoolchildren. Mr Moro said: “The issue in question is not about Boko Haram giving conditions.”

That position was backed by the father of one of the captive girls. He said: “It’s not right. They’ll do it again.”

But last night the government appeared to shift ground and leave open the option of negotiation by saying it was reviewing “all options”.

Gathered under a tree, scores of girls were shown on the video. In the background two of their number held a black banner carrying the slogan of Boko Haram, whose title translates loosely as “Western education is sinful”.

As the camera panned across the group, three of the girls, who come from a mainly Christian community, were ushered forward. Two said they were Christian and had converted to Islam while the other said she is Muslim and the group was unharmed.

The teenagers appeared cowed and fearful with many casting their eyes down to the ground. Their appearance was in stark contrast to four of their classmates who escaped the kidnappers and were filmed in recent days in the bright traditional garb of their region.

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What can be done about Boko Haram?
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau

At one point the camera showed one of the girls’ captors, wearing paramilitary garb with a gun slung over his shoulder as he held a small video camera. The footage showed just over half of the 223 girls who remain missing, possibly adding credence to reports that the abductees have been split into at least two groups.

Speaking in the local Hausa language and Arabic, Shekau appeared separately, dressed in military fatigues and wielding an AK-47 as he set out his terms, at times laughing and staring defiantly into the camera. He said: “These girls you occupy yourselves with … we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims.”

The Boko Haram leader added: “If you want us to release the girls, those who have not accepted Islam will be treated as the Prophet treated infidels and they will stay with us. We will not release them while you detain our brothers.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister David Cameron this weekend refused to rule out sending British troops to help recover the girls and bolster a team of counter-terrorism and intelligence experts already working in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

A spokesman for Mr Cameron said: “[The video] underlines the horror and barbarity of the actions in the kidnapping of these girls. It underlines the importance of working with and in support of the Nigerian authorities and Nigerian people in terms of trying to bring about the release of the kidnapped girls.”

Israel became the latest country to have its offer of expert help accepted by Mr Jonathan yesterday.

The Sambisa Forest, on Nigeria’s eastern border with Cameroon where it is presumed the girls have been taken, is three times the size of Wales.

The scale of the kidnapping and the threat of Shekau to sell the teenagers “in the market” have provoked international outrage and a global campaign to secure their release.

Officials have privately accepted that Boko Haram may have been successful in penetrating army and government structures in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north.

Residents of Gamboru, a border town repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram, including in an incident last week in which 300 people were killed, announced yesterday that they are moving across the border to Cameroon because they could no longer rely on Nigerian forces to protect them.