Grab from the new video by Boko Haram shows the fighter and the girls surrounding him. Credit-Al-jazera

The United Nations said on Friday that it is actively looking into request by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari for its assistance in the rescue of over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok, Borno State on 14 April 2014 by insurgent group Boko Haram.

The Nigerian President had during a bilateral meeting with Ban Ki-moon, the UN scribe at the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly in New York indicated his willingness to swap members of the insurgent group in detention with the girls as requested by the militant group in a recent video.

President Buhari however  lamented that while the government is willing to bend over backwards to get the girls released, there is the challenge of  getting credible and bona fide leadership of Boko Haram to discuss with.

“The split in the insurgent group is not helping matters. Government had reached out, ready to negotiate, but it became difficult to identify credible leaders. We will welcome intermediaries such as UN outfits, to step in,” he stated.

Speaking at a high-level conference Friday on the sidelines of the General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting, U.N Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson called for the immediate release of the abducted girls.

He also said the United Nations is “actively looking into” a request by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari for U.N. assistance in negotiating the release of the Chibok girls, according to Reuters. Eliasson was further quote as saying the U.N. is in contact with Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who heads the U.N.’s West Africa office, “to advise on how we can be helpful.”

He added that the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Nigeria in April 2014 “is a horrific example of the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war and terrorism.”