Aid Agency Begs Boko Haram To Free Abducted Staff, Five Others

International aid agency Action Against Hunger has appealed to both Boko Haram and ISWAP to release its staff member and five companions who were kidnapped on 18 July near the town of Damasak in Borno state.

 

The plea followed the appearance of the six in a video published on Wednesday evening.

 

The people, abducted last week near the town of Damasak in northeast Nigeria, are “apparently in a good condition of health”, the aid group said.

 

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, in which a driver was killed, but either ISWAP or Boko Haram was suspected to have carried out the abduction, after killing one of the drivers.

 

All six abductees are Nigerian. Those abducted are two drivers, one Action Against Hunger staff member and three health workers.

 

“Action Against Hunger strongly requests that our staff member and her companions are released,” said the agency.

“They are humanitarians and health workers and they chose to dedicate their lives to support the most vulnerable communities in Nigeria. They were only in pursuit of solidarity, humanity and neutrality.

 

“Their abduction fully contradicts International Humanitarian Law and internationally recognized standards for the protection of humanitarian workers and organizations.

 

“All Action Against Hunger teams and staff express their full support and comfort to our colleague and to her companions who are being detained, as well as to their families and friends”, the agency said.

 

The video published by Ahmad Salkida for thecable.ng showed a woman sitting on the floor who identifies herself as “Grace”. Five men sit around her, some with their heads bowed. Behind them is a sheet with the logo of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

 

“We were caught by this army called the Calipha,” she said, before asking that the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) and Action Against Hunger secure their release.

 

“I want to beg government, CAN, Christian Association of Nigeria, because I am the only Christian among the six of us here, I want to beg that CAN association should do something about me to see how I can be released.

 

“I also want to beg Action Against Hunger, Borno state, we are six here; all of us are staff, we went to work and on our way back to our base, we were caught. I beg Action Against Hunger we have families, some of us have children.

 

“I’m begging Action Against Hunger that they should please do something about us. I also want to count on Nigeria, our nation… we are Nigerians and we are also working for Nigeria. I beg that Nigeria government should please do something to see that we are released.

 

“Some aid workers were caught and also asked to be released but because Nigeria did not do anything about it, they were killed. I am begging on behalf of all of us here, that please Nigerians should not allow such to happen to us.”

 

The abduction comes nine months after Islamic State’s West Africa branch executed a Red Cross aid worker who was kidnapped from another town in northeastern Nigeria in March 2018.

 

Source: Pm News