Nigeria’s government says 82 Chibok schoolgirls are free more than three years after a mass abduction by Boko Haram extremists. It is the second group release; Nigeria announced in October that 21 girls had been freed after negotiations with the extremists.
The kidnapping shocked the world and put tremendous pressure on Nigeria’s government to counter Boko Haram and free thousands who have been taken captive over the years. Here are some of the key events surrounding the Chibok crisis:
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April 2014: Boko Haram extremists kidnap 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in northern Nigeria, the region where the insurgency emerged several years ago.
November 2014: Extremists seize Chibok, and Nigerian army takes back the town.
May 2015: New President Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in, pledging to tackle Boko Haram “head-on.”
April 13, 2016: Boko Haram video appears to show some of the Chibok girls, and tearful mothers recognize their daughters.
May 18, 2016: Relative says one of the Chibok girls is found, pregnant, in a forest; pressure grows on Nigeria’s government to rescue the others.
Aug. 14, 2016: Boko Haram video says some Chibok girls are killed in airstrikes and demands release of extremists in exchange for the other girls’ freedom.
Oct. 13, 2016: Spokesman for Nigeria’s president confirms 21 Chibok girls have been freed, a result of government negotiations with Boko Haram. Nigeria’s government says another 83 girls would be released “very soon.”
Nov. 5, 2016: Military announces the first army rescue of a Chibok girl, during a raid on a forest hideout.
Dec. 24, 2016: Nigeria’s president declares that Boko Haram has been crushed, driven from its last forest hideout.
Jan. 5, 2017: Nigeria’s army says soldiers find one of the schoolgirls wandering in the bush near the forest stronghold.
April 14, 2017: Nigerians mark three years since the mass abduction.
May 6, 2017: Nigeria’s government says another 82 schoolgirls are released.
– Timeframe: Exchange made for 82 Chibok girls –
The Latest on the release of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped three years ago by Boko Haram extremists in Nigeria (all times local):
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12:15 a.m.
Nigeria’s government says the release of 82 Chibok schoolgirls who had been kidnapped three years ago by Boko Haram came in exchange for “some Boko Haram suspects held by the authorities.”
The announcement is the first confirmation by the government of any exchange made in its months of negotiations with the extremist group.
After the first negotiated release of 21 Chibok girls in October, the government denied that a ransom was paid or that it freed some detained Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the girls.
The government statement says the freed girls are expected to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in the capital, Abuja.
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11 p.m.
A Nigerian military official with knowledge of the rescue operation says 83 Chibok schoolgirls are free more than three years after a mass abduction by Boko Haram extremists.
Family members say they are eagerly awaiting a list of names and “our hopes and expectations are high.”
The official says the schoolgirls were found near the border town of Banki in Borno state near Cameroon. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make the announcement.
The number could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press. The schoolgirls remained in military custody late Saturday.
While 21 girls had been freed in the first negotiated release in October, 195 had remained hostage until this weekend.
– Haruna Umar in Maiduguri, Nigeria
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10:40 p.m.
A Nigerian official says at least 62 Chibok schoolgirls have been released more than three years after they were abducted from their boarding school by Boko Haram extremists.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Family members were eagerly awaiting a list of names late Saturday and said “our hopes and expectations are high.”
Officials say the girls were freed near the town of Banki along the border with Cameroon. They were in military custody late Saturday.
While 21 girls had been freed in the first negotiated release in October, 195 had remained hostage until this weekend.
– Hilary Uguru in Warri, Nigeria
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9:55 p.m.
A Nigerian official says more of the Chibok schoolgirls have been released three years after their abduction by Boko Haram extremists, though the exact number is not immediately known.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity late Saturday because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Nearly 200 of the schoolgirls had remained captive before this release.
Many of the girls seized from their boarding school were forced into marriages with fighters and became pregnant.
Nigeria’s government in October announced the first negotiated release of 21 of the schoolgirls.
At the time, it said another group of 83 girls would be released “very soon.”
The government has denied a ransom was paid and that it freed some detained Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the girls.
Five Boko Haram commanders freed in exchange for 82 Chibok girls
Five Boko Haram commanders have been released in exchange for the freedom of 82 Chibok schoolgirls, a Nigerian government official said.
The confirmation of the prisoner swap comes a day after the young women were liberated after more than three years in captivity with the Islamic militants.
President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday that some Boko Haram prisoners had been released for the freedom of the schoolgirls but he did not give any details.
The freed young women “will face a long and difficult process to rebuild their lives after the indescribable horror and trauma they have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Pernille Ironside, acting representative of Unicef Nigeria.
Authorities say 113 schoolgirls remain missing of the 276 girls abducted from their boarding school in 2014.
Girls who escaped said some of their classmates had died from illness. Others did not want to come home because they had been radicalised by their captors, they said.
A happy site for families missing loved ones: Some of the 82 released #ChibokGirls board an aircraft. pic.twitter.com/9yiJOUocQe
— ICRC Africa (@ICRC_Africa) May 7, 2017
Human rights advocates also fear some of the girls kidnapped from the Chibok boarding school were used by Boko Haram to carry out suicide bombings.
In Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, anxious families were awaiting the official list of names of the 82 schoolgirls freed. Some parents have not lived long enough to see their daughters released, underscoring the tragedy of the three-year saga.
Last year, 21 other Chibok girls were liberated in October and they have been undergoing counselling for months. It was not immediately clear whether the newest girls freed on Saturday would join them.
President @MBuhari expresses his deep gratitude to all who played a part in ensuring the success of this operation, as follows:
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) May 6, 2017
Security agencies, the military, the Government of Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross, & local and international NGOs
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) May 6, 2017
The President has repeatedly expressed his total commitment towards ensuring the safe return of the #ChibokGirls, and all other BH captives
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) May 6, 2017
Those girls are still in government care in Abuja for medical attention, trauma counselling and rehabilitation, according to the government. Human rights groups have criticised the decision to keep the girls in Abuja, nearly 560 miles from Chibok.
The newly freed schoolgirls should be quickly released to their families and not be subjected to lengthy government detention, Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which along with the Swiss government has mediated negotiations between Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram, said the girls soon would meet with their families.
Acting as a neutral intermediary, we @ICRC transported 82 #ChibokGirls to the government of #Nigeria. pic.twitter.com/FTiAnjXejq
— ICRC Africa (@ICRC_Africa) May 7, 2017
Saturday’s release marks the largest negotiated release so far of the 276 girls whose abduction in 2014 drew international attention to the threat of Nigeria’s extremists.
Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, and has increasingly carried out attacks in neighbouring countries.
The schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok in 2014 are among thousands of people abducted by Boko Haram over the years.
Nigeria president vows support for freed Chibok girls
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday vowed to help to 82 schoolgirls who have been freed from more than three years of Boko Haram captivity after a prisoner swap.
The girls — who were among more than 200 kidnapped in 2014 from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, northeast Nigeria — travelled to the capital Abuja a day after their release to meet Buhari.
“I cannot express in a few words how happy I am to welcome our dear girls back to freedom,” Buhari said in a statement, pledging that the presidency would “personally supervise” authorities charged with ensuring the girls’ “health, education, security and general well-being”.
Presidential aide Bashir Ahmad tweeted a photograph of the girls, most of whom were sitting on the floor of Buhari’s official residence, as the president sat in an armchair dressed in white traditional robes.
The meeting came shortly before Buhari was whisked out of the country on Sunday evening after weeks of concern over his health, heading to London for “follow-up medical consultation”, according to his spokesman Femi Adesina.
The teenagers, who had been taken to a medical facility for checks after arriving in Abuja by military helicopter, met with the president for about 45 minutes, said an AFP reporter at the scene.
Adesina said they had now been “handed over to those who will supervise their rehabilitation”.
He did not comment on how many imprisoned members of Boko Haram — whose fight to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead since 2009 — had been released in the swap.
But AFP understands at least three suspected senior commanders, all of them Chadian nationals, were handed over.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said he could not confirm claims that as many five militants were released.
– ‘Joyous moment’ –
The girls arrived from the northeastern town of Banki, on the border with Cameroon, and were met at the airport by Buhari’s chief of staff Abba Kyari.
“Welcome our girls, welcome our sisters, we are glad to have you back,” Kyari told them, describing it as “a very joyous moment”.
A military source said one of the girls was “carrying a baby with her, a boy of less than two years”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it “facilitated the safe return” of the girls as a “neutral intermediary” and tweeted photographs of girls boarding a military helicopter.
Many of the students wore colourful akara print dresses, visibly tired from their ordeal.
The presidency had announced late Saturday that months of talks with the jihadists had “yielded results” some six months after 21 other Chibok girls were freed with the help of the ICRC and the Swiss government.
– Symbol of conflict –
Boko Haram fighters stormed the girls’ school on the evening of April 14, 2014, and kidnapped 276 teenaged girls who were preparing to sit high school exams.
Fifty-seven managed to escape in the hours that followed but the remaining 219 were held by the group.
Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau claimed in a video message that they had converted to Islam.
The audacious kidnapping brought the insurgency to world attention, triggering global outrage that galvanised support from the former US first lady Michelle Obama and Hollywood stars.
The girls have become a symbol of Nigeria’s brutal conflict. Last month, parents and supporters marked the three-year anniversary of the abduction, describing the situation as an unending “nightmare”.
Enoch Mark, a Christian pastor whose two daughters were among those kidnapped, said of the latest releases: “This is good news to us. We have been waiting for this day.
“We hope the remaining girls will soon be released.”
Accounting for three other girls who have since been found, a total of 113 Chibok girls are now missing, although Shekau claimed last August that some had been killed in military air strikes.
Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war, seizing thousands of women and children, and forcibly recruiting young men and boys into their ranks.
In a less publicised attack in November 2014, some 300 children were among about 500 people kidnapped from the town of Damasak, on the border with Niger, in the far north of Borno state.
Most are still missing.