JANGEBE, Nigeria (AP) – Nigerian families have been looking forward to receiving news of their abducted daughters after more than 300 schoolchildren were abducted by gunmen from a northern government school last week, the latest in a series mass abductions of schools in the West African Nation.
On Sunday, worried parents gathered at the school, guarded by police. Aliyu Ladan Jangebe said his five daughters, aged 12 to 16, were at school when the kidnappers stormed. Four were taken, but one escaped by hiding in a 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 insure (only) one. We only thank God … But we are not happy “, said Jangebe.
“We can’t imagine their situation,” he said of his missing daughters. Residents of a nearby village said the kidnappers took the girls around the city like animals, he said.
A resident said gunmen also attacked a military camp and a nearby checkpoint, preventing soldiers from responding to the mass abduction.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the government’s priority is for all hostages to be returned safely and unharmed. Police and the army have begun joint operations to rescue the girls, said Mohammed Shehu, a police spokesman in Zamfara State.
The abduction of the girls caused international outrage.
Pope Francis denounced the abduction 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 so that they will 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 abductions and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the girls and the safe return of their families. He called the attacks on schools a serious violation of human and children’s rights, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Nigeria has seen several such attacks and abductions in recent years. On Saturday, 24 students, six employees and eight relatives were released after they were abducted on February 17 from the Kagara Government Scientific College in Niger. In December, more than 300 schoolchildren from a secondary school in Kankara, northwestern Nigeria, were taken and later released. The government said no ransom had been paid for the release of the students.
The most notorious abduction took place in April 2014, when 276 girls were abducted by jihadist rebels in Boko Haram 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 target schools. Other organized armed groups, locally called bandits, often kidnap students for money. The government says large groups of armed men in Zamfara state are known to be kidnapping for money and pushing for the release of their imprisoned members.
Nigeria’s criminal networks could plan more such 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 colleague at the Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan-based think tank.