21 Chibok Schoolgirls Freed From Boko Haram Captivity
After more than two-and-half years in captivity in the Boko Haram stronghold in Sambisa Forest and several derailed negotiations, the Nigerian government secured the release of twenty-one of more than 270 girls kidnapped from a boarding school in Chibok by Boko Haram fighters in April 2014. Until now, the Nigerian government has had little success in locating the abducted girls since 57 managed to escape in the days following the abduction in 2014, and two others, Amina Ali and Serah Luka, were rescued in May. The Chibok girls’ plight has drawn worldwide attention to the atrocities committed by Boko Haram in Borno State for the past seven years through the viral #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.
The girls’ liberation is a result of a deal brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government, forged amidst negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram that began in July 2015. The girls were allegedly released in exchange for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki in Northeast Nigeria; however, the Nigerian and Swiss governments deny that this exchange took place.
Though the girls were freed on the morning of October 13, it took days for the news to reach their families. Poor road conditions in the Chibok area, the destruction of local cell phone towers by Boko Haram, and the fact that many relatives live as far as 12 miles away from Chibok hindered communication of the news, according to the chairman of the parents’ group that urged aggressive efforts to secure the girls’ release.
Despite the progress made in substantially quelling Boko Haram and extricating several towns from their control, the Nigerian government and military have been criticized for their failure to locate and return all of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who had made recovering the Chibok schoolgirls a cornerstone of his 2015 campaign, received the 21 girls and their families, accompanied by a Chibok Senator and the local government chairman, at the presidential villa in Abuja on October 19. At the ceremony, President Buhari vowed that the federal government would rehabilitate and reintegrate the girls back into Nigerian society, providing them with “adequate and comprehensive medical, nutritional and psychological care and support.”
However, as Nigeria and the rest of the world rejoice, the saga is not yet over for the 197 girls that remain missing, thought to be held by a faction of Boko Haram different from the one that has been endorsed by the Islamic State. According to Human Rights Watch, Boko Haram has abducted an estimated 2,000 women and girls since 2009, raping and forcing their captives to marry insurgents or become slaves and sometimes coercing them to become suicide bombers.
The return of these 21 girls, while a laudable achievement, is nonetheless a grave reminder of the work that remains to expunge violent extremism from northern Nigeria and bring healing to its victims.