JANGEBE, Nigeria (AP) – Families in Nigeria anxiously awaited news of their kidnapped daughters after more than 300 students were kidnapped by armed men from a public school in the north of the country last week, the latest in a series of kidnappings in schools in the west African nation.
Concerned parents on Sunday met at school, watched by the police. Aliyu Ladan Jangebe said his five daughters aged 12 to 16 were in school when the kidnappers invaded. 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) a good mood because when you have five children and manage to have (only) one. We just thank God … But we are not happy, ”said Jangebe.
“We cannot imagine their situation,” he said of his missing daughters. Residents of a nearby village said the kidnappers led the girls around the city like animals, he said.
One resident said the armed men also attacked a nearby military camp and a checkpoint, preventing soldiers from responding to the mass kidnapping.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the government’s priority is to ensure that all hostages are returned safely and unharmed. The police and the military have started joint operations to rescue the girls, said Mohammed Shehu, a police spokesman in the state of Zamfara.
The abduction of the girls caused international outrage.
Pope Francis condemned the kidnapping and prayed for the quick release of the girls, during his public speech in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.
“I pray for these girls so that they can return home soon … I am close to their families and theirs,” said Francis, asking people to join him in prayer.
Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the kidnappings and called for the girls’ “immediate and unconditional release” and a safe return to their families. He called the attacks on schools a serious violation of human rights and children’s rights, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Nigeria has seen several of these attacks and kidnappings in recent years. On Saturday, 24 students, six employees and eight relatives were released after they were kidnapped on February 17 at the Kagara Government School of Science in the state of Niger. In December, more than 300 students from a secondary school in Kankara, in northwest Nigeria, were taken away and later released. The government said that no ransom was paid for the release of the students.
The most notorious kidnapping was in April 2014, when 276 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram’s jihadist rebels from the high school in Chibok, Borno state. More than 100 of these girls are still missing.
Boko Haram is opposed to Western education and his fighters tend to target schools. Other organized armed groups, called locally bandits, often kidnap students for money. The government says large groups of armed men in the state of Zamfara are known to kidnap for money and to press for the release of their detained members.
Nigeria’s criminal networks can plan more hijackings if this round of hijackings goes unpunished, analysts say.
“While improving community policing and security in general remains a medium to 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 , senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a think tank based in Morocco.