Boko Haram fighters killed older
boys and men in front of their
families before taking women and
children into the forest where
many died of hunger and disease,
freed captives told Reuters on
Sunday after they were brought to
a refugee camp in Yola, Adamawa
State.
The Nigerian army rescued
hundreds of women and children
last week from the Islamist fighters
in Sambisa Forest in a major
operation that has turned
international attention to the
plight of hostages.
After days on the road in pickup
trucks, hundreds were released on
Sunday into the care of authorities
at a refugee camp in Yola, to be fed
and treated for injuries. They spoke
to reporters for the first time.
“They didn’t allow us to move an
inch,” said one of the freed women,
Asabe Umaru, describing her
captivity. “If you needed the toilet,
they followed you. We were kept in
one place. We were under
bondage.
“We thank God to be alive today.
We thank the Nigerian army for
saving our lives,” she added.
Two hundred and seventy-five
women and children, some with
heads or limbs in bandages, arrived
in the camp late on Saturday.
Nearly 700 kidnap victims have
been freed from the Islamist
group’s forest stronghold since
Tuesday, with the latest group of
234 women and children liberated
on Friday.
“When we saw the soldiers we
raised our hands and shouted for
help. Boko Haram who were
guarding us started stoning us so
we would follow them to another
hideout, but we refused because
we were sure the soldiers would
rescue us,” Umaru, a 24 year-old
mother of two, told Reuters.
The prisoners suffered malnutrition
and disease, she said. “Every day
we witnessed the death of one of
us and waited for our turn,” Mrs.
Umaru added.
Another freed captive, Cecilia Abel,
said her husband and first son had
been killed in her presence before
the militia forced her and her
remaining eight children into the
forest.
For two weeks before the military
arrived she had barely eaten.
“We were fed only ground dry
maize in the afternoons. It was not
good for human consumption,” she
said. “Many of us that were
captured died in Sambisa Forest.
Even after our rescue about 10 died
on our way to this place.”
Amnesty International estimates
the insurgents, who are intent on
bringing West Africa under Islamist
rule, have taken more than 2,000
women and girls captive since the
start of 2014. Many have been used
as cooks, sex slaves or human
shields.
The prisoners freed so far do not
appear to include any of more than
200 schoolgirls snatched from
school dormitories in Chibok town
a year ago, an incident that drew
global attention to the six-year-old
insurgency.
Umaru said her group of prisoners
never came in contact with the
missing Chibok girls.
Meanwhile, the 23 Armoured
Brigade of the Nigerian Army based
in Yola, Adamawa State, has handed
over 275 women and children
rescued from insurgents in Sambisa
Forest to the National Emergency
Management Agency for
rehabilitation.
The statement quoted the
Commander, 23 Armoured Brigade,
Col. Aba Popoola, as saying that “on
behalf of the Nigerian Army, I want
to hand over 275 rescued women
and children that we rescued from
Sambisa Forest to the National
Emergency Management Agency for
care and welfare.”
Receiving the rescued persons, the
Director-General, NEMA, Sani Sidi,
said the rescued women and
children needed special attention
and that the agency had made all
the necessary arrangements with
relevant stakeholders for trauma
counselling.
Ghuluze noted that the ministry
had ensured regular supply of
drugs to the clinics.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
