JANGEBE, Nigeria (AP) – Nigerian families eagerly await news of their daughters abducted after more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen from a northern government school last week. last of a series of mass kidnappings of schools in West African Nation.
Worried parents on Sunday gathered at the school, monitored by police. Aliyu Ladan Jangebe said his five daughters between the ages of 12 and 16 were in school when the kidnappers broke in. Four were taken away, but one escaped by hiding in the bathroom with three other girls, he told The Associated Press.
“We are not in a good mood because when you have five children and you can get one (only). We only thank God … But we are not happy, ”said Jangebe.
“We can’t imagine her situation,” he said of his missing daughters. Residents of a nearby village said the kidnappers had taken the girls to the city as animals, he said.
One resident said gunmen also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing soldiers from responding to the mass abduction.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the government’s priority is to get all the hostages returned healthy and unharmed. Police and the military have launched joint operations to rescue the girls, said Mohammed Shehu, a police spokesman in Zamfara state.
The kidnapping of the girls has caused international outrage.
Pope Francis denounced the kidnapping and prayed for the speedy release of the girls during his public speech in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.
“I pray for these girls, that they may return home soon … I am close to their families and to them,” Francis said, asking people to join him in prayer.
Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the kidnappings and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the girls and the safe return of their families. He described the attacks on schools as a serious violation of human and children’s rights, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings in recent years. On Saturday, 24 students, six staff members and eight relatives were released after being abducted on February 17 from Government Science College Kagara, in the state of Niger. In December, more than 300 schoolchildren from a secondary school in Kankara, northwestern Nigeria, were later arrested and released. The government has said no ransom has been paid for the release of the students.
The most notorious kidnapping was in April 2014, when 276 girls were abducted by Boko Haram jihadist rebels from Chibok High School in Borno state. More than 100 of these girls are still missing.
Boko Haram opposes Western education and its fighters often go to schools. Other organized armed groups, locally called bandits, often kidnap students for money. The government says large groups of gunmen in Zamfara state are known to kidnap for money and press for their members to be released from prison.
Nigeria’s criminal networks can plan more kidnappings if this round of kidnappings goes unpunished, analysts say.
“While improving community policing and security in general remains a medium- and long-term challenge, in the short term the authorities must punish those responsible for sending a strong message that there will be zero tolerance for such acts.” , said Rida Lyammouri, a senior member of the Policy Center for the New South, a think tank based in Morocco.