Red Cross pleads for workers
The Red Cross on Sunday appealed to Nigeria to secure the release of two health workers, as a deadline set by Boko Haram to kill them approached.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spoke out a month after another hostage kidnapped with them was executed by the jihadists.
“A deadline that could result in the killing of another healthcare worker is less than 24 hours away,” said the ICRC.
“Speed and urgency are critical,” it said.
The three female health workers were kidnapped on March 1 in the remote northeastern town of Rann following an attack by the Islamic Stateaffiliated Boko Haram faction.
The raid killed three other health workers and eight Nigerian soldiers.
Two of the kidnapped women, Hauwa Liman and Saifura Khorsa, worked for the Geneva-based humanitarian charity while the third, Alice Loksha, worked for the UN children’s organisation Unicef.
There was no news of the trio until last month. Then the ICRC said it had received footage of Khorsa’s execution from the IS-supported Boko Haram faction Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
In the footage, ISWAP threatened to kill the other two health workers if its demands were not met.
“The ICRC asks all those involved with this case to avoid a repeat of that devastating outcome,” said Mamadou Sow, ICRC’s head of operations in the Lake Chad region.
The ICRC called on ISWAP to show “mercy” and not kill two health workers “doing nothing but helping the communities in northeast Nigeria”.
“Hauwa and Alice are medical workers who chose to work and help vulnerable communities in Rann, an area affected by violence,” Sow said.