Military moves 275 Boko Haram hostages to relief camp

Nigeria’s military authorities on Sunday moved 275 women
and children to a relief camp, days after rescuing them from
Boko Haram’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest, the state-
run emergency agency said.
The freed hostages, among almost 700 women and children
rescued from Boko Haram’s clutches last week, had been
traumatised and malnourished by their ordeal, the military
said.
They were taken to the camp in Yola for profiling,
counselling and rehabilitation.
“The 23 Armoured Brigade of the Nigerian Army based in
Yola, Adamawa State, has handed over 275 rescued women
and children from the insurgents in Sambisa forest to the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for
rehabilitation,” the agency said in a statement.
NEMA chief Muhammad Sani Sidi said the agency had made
the necessary arrangements for trauma counselling and
other forms of assistance to enable the hostages recover
and return to normal life.
Sani Datti, the spokesman for the agency, told AFP the
personal data of the hostages had been recorded.
“Their personal data, including names, age, and place of
origin were taken,” he said, adding that those wounded
during the rescue operation had been hospitalised.
“Eight women and 15 children have been taken to the
hospital for treatment for injuries they sustained during the
rescue operation,” he said.
- Traumatised by their ordeal -
He said most of the hostages were traumatised by their
ordeal in Boko Haram camps.
“Most of them looked tired and traumatised. They were
unkempt. From their looks they haven’t had a bath for
days,” he lamented.
The women and children were provided with food,
mattresses, blankets, mosquito nets, soap and detergents.
Nigerian troops rescued almost 700 hostages from their
captives in Sambisa forest between Tuesday and Thursday
last week, promising to go on and free all those still in
captivity.
According to Amnesty International Boko Haram has seized
about 2,000 women and girls since the start of last year.
Female former hostages have described being subjected to
forced labour and sexual and psychological abuse as well
as sometimes having to fight on the frontline alongside the
rebels.
The military has released a series of photographs purporting
to show some of the rescued women and children at an
undisclosed location, huddled on the ground watched over
by soldiers.
It was still not clear if any of the 219 girls snatched in April
2014 from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok
were among the freed hostages.
The military said they were still screening the freed
hostages with a view to establishing their identities.
The mass kidnapping in Chibok prompted global outrage
and forced President Goodluck Jonathan to accept
international help in the search operation for the missing
girls.
Jonathan has come under severe criticism for not doing
enough to secure the release of the Chibok girls as well as
end the six-year-old Boko Haram insurgency that has
claimed some 15,000 lives and forced at least 1.5 million
people to flee their homes.
Many analysts believe the protracted Boko Haram uprising
was partly responsible for Jonathan’s defeat in the March
28 presidential election to former military ruler Mohammadu
Buhari.
Buhari, who is due to assume office on May 29, has vowed
to crush the militants who want to create a hardline Islamic
state in northeast Nigeria.