At least one of more than 100 young women missing since being abducted by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the Nigerian city of Chibok nearly seven years ago managed to escape her captors this week, according to family members and officials locals.
Halima Ali Maiyanga said in a phone call on Thursday that she was one of hundreds of captives who managed to escape amid a Nigerian military offensive against Boko Haram fighters in the northeastern Sambisa forest.
The Chibok Association, formed after 276 girls were abducted from their high school in Chibok in 2014, said several other people gained their freedom while pushing the army. More than 100 of them were released in 2016 and 2017 after a ransom payment and the release by the government of some Boko Haram fighters.
“Halima cried. She told us that she is with the army and she needs some clothes because she has nothing “, said her brother Muhammad Maiyanga. “We never thought we’d see her again.”
Ms. Maiyanga, now 22, was 15 when she was abducted the night before the end-of-year exams. Her older sister Maryam Ali Maiyanga managed to escape in 2017 with a baby son born after her forced marriage to a jihadist fighter.
“People came to enjoy us,” said the sister. “I can’t wait to reunite with my sister.”
A man from Lagos passed by the portraits of some of the Chibok schools kidnapped by Boko Haram.
Photo:
pius utomi ekpei / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
Neither the Nigerian government nor the military responded to requests for comment. A Nigerian security official said the army had determined that some of the escapees were from Chibok. Another said they only confirmed that more than 100 women had been released.
Defense officials said the new offensive showed that the army was regaining the initiative after a year of fighting to detain the jihadists, who had become increasingly broad and bold.
According to the US Foreign Relations Council, the period in July 2018 was more dangerous for Nigerian security personnel than in any other period of the decadelong conflict.
High schools are still targeted by Boko Haram. In December, 344 students were abducted from a boys’ boarding school in Katsina state, but were released after a ransom was paid, according to Nigerian security officials.
Boko Haram’s abduction of the Chibok girls triggered the global #BringBackOurGirls campaign, which briefly turned them into the world’s most famous hostages. The hashtag led to a US-led international rescue effort, which deployed drones and satellites over the Sambisa forest to hunt captives.
Following the news of Ms. Maiyanga’s escape, other families in Chibok were looking forward to news of their daughters, some of whom resigned themselves to never seeing each other again. But the community has seen its hopes shattered before claims that the girls were released turned out to be false.
Rebecca Samuel, whose daughter Sarah was among the hostages, said she had a vivid dream Thursday night that her daughter had returned alive and well.
“I told my husband this morning about my dream,” she said. “I have not stopped praying for my daughter’s return since she was abducted in 2014.”
After being abducted by Boko Haram, 21 Chibok schoolgirls reunited with their parents in October 2016 at an emotional gathering in Abuja, Nigeria. Photo: AP (Originally published on October 16, 2016)
—Kabiru Anwar contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Parkinson at [email protected]
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