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- According to a report on Nigerian state television, the students who were apparently abducted by the terrorist group Boko Haram are free again.
- However, it is not clear whether all the kidnapped students are at large: the government spoke of 333 kidnappers, media reports assume the number is almost double.
- In an audio message, Boko Haram justified the act with an Islamophobic Western upbringing of the children.
The students were abducted by extremists from a secondary school in Kankara, in the northern Katsina region.
“Send back all the troops that came to help”
In a video that made the rounds on social media, children covered in dust and looking scared are seen in front of a wooded area. The boys describe themselves as students from the attacked Kankara school. A man with an assault rifle can be seen in the background of the largely blurred video, which was not officially confirmed by authorities.
In front of the camera, an older boy asks for a peaceful settlement with the kidnappers. “Send back all the troops that have come to help,” he pleads in a voice choked with tears.
Ransom is a major source of funding for the organization.
In previous kidnappings, kidnapped victims had also been brought before the public to enforce ransom demands. It is an important source of funding for the organization. Despite the audio message, the background to the sudden launch was unclear at first.
Boko Haram has carried out similar attacks on several occasions. In April 2014, he abducted 267 girls from a school in Chibok, Borno state. Many are still missing today. According to the human rights organization Amnesty International, hundreds of teachers, schoolchildren and students have been killed or injured since 2012. Many abducted children would be forced to work as child soldiers.
Boko Haram’s tactics include attacks on schools and the kidnapping of children, the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and the forced marriage of girls and young women. “Boko Haram tortures children with beatings and whipping and forces them to witness public punishment and executions,” wrote the human rights organization Amnesty International after questioning a dozen refugee victims.
The International Criminal Court opens proceedings
The International Criminal Court announced the opening of a preliminary investigation against Boko Haram, but also against Nigerian security forces, just a week ago. According to Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, there is sufficient evidence that members of Boko Haram have committed serious war crimes and crimes against humanity. These included murder, rape, slavery, torture, and hostage-taking, among others.
Boko Haram, but also many dissident groups, have been terrorizing the population in northern Nigeria for years. In a study recently published by Verisk Maplecroft, Nigeria finished in the top ten states most affected by terrorists out of nearly 200 countries examined.
