Chibok schoolgirls swapped for 5 Boko Haram leaders
ABUJA, Nigeria — Five Boko Haram commanders were released in exchange for the freedom of 82 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the extremist group three years ago, a Nigerian government official said Sunday, as the girls were expected to meet with the country’s president and their families.
The confirmation of the prisoner swap came a day after the young women were liberated. There was no immediate comment about the exchange from the Nigerian presidency or Boko Haram, which has links to the Islamic State group. President Muhammadu Buhari’s office said Saturday that “some” Boko Haram suspects in detention had been released for the freedom of the schoolgirls, but it did not give details.
The young women were flown Sunday by military helicopters from northeastern Nigeria to Abuja, the capital, where they were expected to meet the president in the evening.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which along with the Swiss government mediated the Nigerian government’s negotiations with Boko Haram, said Sunday that the girls would soon meet with their families.
“They will face a long and difficult process to rebuild their lives after the indescribable horror and trauma they have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Pernille Ironside, acting representative of UNICEF Nigeria.
Authorities say 113 schoolgirls remain missing from the group of 276 abducted from their boarding school in April 2014. Girls who escaped early on said some of their classmates had died from illness. Others did not want to come home, because they’d been radicalized by their captors, they said.
Human rights advocates also fear some of the girls kidnapped from the Chibok boarding school have been used to carry out suicide bombings.
Anxious families were awaiting the official list of names of the 82 schoolgirls freed. Some parents did not live long enough to see their daughters released, underscoring the tragedy of the three-year-long saga.
Last year, a first group of 21 Chibok girls was freed in October, and they have been in government care in Abuja for medical attention, trauma counseling and rehabilitation. Human rights groups have criticized the decision to keep the girls in custody in Abuja, nearly 560 miles from Chibok.
It was not immediately clear whether the newly freed girls would join them.
They should be quickly released to their families and not be subjected to lengthy government detention, Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said.