The Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, has released a batch of more
\nthan 80 of the Chibok high school girls who were abducted in mid-April
\n2014.<\/p>\n
According SaharaReporters\u2019 source, the release of the 80 abducted school
\ngirls came after further negotiations between the Islamist group and the
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
The 82 girls who just regained their freedom are currently in Banki town
\nin Borno state awaiting airlift to an unknown destination.<\/p>\n
The source added that once the girls are secured in a new location they
\nwould be debriefed, undergo a psycological and medical test and then be
\nreunited with their families. Also the Britain and the United States on
\nFriday said Boko Haram was preparing to kidnap foreigners in remote
\nnortheast Nigeria, which is in the grip of a food crisis caused by the
\nconflict.<\/p>\n
The Foreign Office in London said it had received reports the Islamist
\nmilitants were \u201cactively planning\u201d to seize foreign workers in the Bama
\nlocal government area of Borno state. Both said in travel advice that the
\naffected area was \u201calong the Banki-Kumshe axis\u201d, which is near the border
\nwith Cameroon.<\/p>\n
The US embassy in Abuja said in a message to its nationals that the report
\nwas \u201ccredible\u201d.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of women and children, including more
\nthan 200 schoolgirls from the Borno town of Chibok in 2014, which brought
\nthe conflict to world attention. At least 20,000 people have been killed
\nsince 2009.<\/p>\n
But abductions of foreigners have been rare. There was a spate of
\nkidnappings of foreign workers in the wider north from 2011 to 2013,
\nclaimed by a Boko Haram splinter group, Ansaru, which was more
\nideologically aligned to Al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n
The leader of Ansaru, Khalid al-Barnawi, has been charged with the
\nabduction and murder of foreign workers, among them an Italian, a Briton,
\na German, Greek, Lebanese and Syrians. Most were engineers or construction
\nworkers.<\/p>\n
International aid workers now account for the majority of foreign
\nnationals in northeast Nigeria. Most are based in the Borno state capital,
\nMaiduguri.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Lake Chad region require urgent
\nfood aid as a result of the conflict, which has made more than 2.6 million
\npeople homeless and ravaged farmland. AFP visited Banki with other
\ninternational media two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Humanitarian agencies operating in the town include the World Food
\nProgramme, International Organization for Migration and other UN bodies.<\/p>\n
Banki was liberated from Boko Haram in September 2015 and is currently
\nhome to some 32,000 displaced people in a sprawling, overcrowded camp. The
\nsurrounding area still suffers from frequent Boko Haram attacks on
\nmilitary convoys, as well as suicide bombings.<\/p>\n
Fighters loyal to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who were pushed out
\nof their camps in the Sambisa Forest area last December, are believed to
\nbe responsible.<\/p>\n
The kidnap warning and the threat to humanitarian operations underlines
\nthe fragility of security in northeast Nigeria, despite claims from the
\ngovernment and military that Boko Haram is a spent force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, has released a batch of more than 80 of the Chibok high school girls who were abducted in mid-April 2014. According SaharaReporters\u2019 source, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n