Nigerian military officials now say that more than 200 girls abducted in April by the heavily armed Boko Haram rebels will be returned.

That’s encouraging news because despite the early media attention, high-level appeals, negotiations and tracking, only a handful of have escaped their abductors so far.

Singer Alicia Keys, second from right, joins “Bring Back Our Girls” protesters at the Nigerian consulate in New York on Tuesday, marking the six-month anniversary of the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants. Kathy Willens/… — Singer Alicia Keys, second from right, joins “Bring Back Our Girls” protesters at the Nigerian consulate in New York on Tuesday, marking the six-month anniversary of the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants. Kathy Willens/ AP

Six months after the hashtag diplomacy campaign #BringBackOurGirls hit its zenith with a White House photo appeal by First Lady Michelle Obama, Twittering was seemingly the only sustained activity highlighting these schoolgirls’ plight. International attention is fickle and solutions never easy. (read more)