Positive signs for missing Chibok girls
A woman has been rescued from Boko Haram militants through a military operation that was led by the Nigerian Army. The woman named Sara Luka was rescued just days after Amina Ali was rescued by a local vigilante group.
In April 2014, 270 girls were kidnapped by the Islamist militia group, Boko Haram. 57 of the girls escaped in the early stages of their kidnapping, but 219 have been missing since. The rescue of Amina brings the count to 218 missing girls.
This latest success in rescue efforts has given the parents of the Chibok girls a renewed hope of seeing their daughters once again. It also comes as a relief, after numerous speculations over the last few months that the girls might have been taken to neighboring Cameroon or Chad.
The #Bringbackourgilrs# campaign was launched in response to the incident, with people like US First Lady, Michelle Obama adding her voice to the growing calls for the girl’s release.
Parents of the missing girls have in the past expressed frustration over how slow the government had been in taking major steps to finding their children. Several protests have been staged and negotiations have been made.
There is some controversy over the identity of Sara though. While the army initially said she was one of the Chibok girls, the school records of registered students on the day of the kidnap does not show her name. The military later recanted their account and said she might have been captured by Boko Haram at a later date from somewhere else.
What is clear though is that she was camped together with the Chibok girls and this is a great step forward in terms of getting an insight in to the well being of the girls.
Dauda Illiya , spokesperson for the Chibok community, said in Abuja: “This is undeniably good news, the young lady has come with a lot of information for the government to follow. This brings us closer to finding the rest of the girls.”
Many escapees from Boko Haram controlled regions have returned pregnant or with babies. Amina is the latest victim; she returned with a four month old baby and a man claiming to be his husband. Nigerian officials say she and her husband had escaped from Boko Haram but were wandering for six days in the forest before they were found.
Leader of the terror group, Abubacar Shekawi, had in the past boasted that all the girls had been forced to accept Islam and would serve as wives to his fighters.
For the returnees, the most difficult task is yet ahead; reintegration. Many of the girls and women who had returned from Boko Haram camps did so with huge psychological trauma.
It is still unclear how Sara and Amina will be treated by their community but the past experiences from others have not being good. Many have been called names like ‘ Boko wives’ and their children have been bullied and ridiculed by community members.
Dorris Yarro, an activist who has helped other escapees from Boko Haram, says: “They are traumatized. Psychologically and culturally there is a stigma that makes it even harder for them to reintegrate into the community. It is not going to be easy.”
Last week, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with Amina and cuddled her four months old baby in his hands. The move did a triple for him: it scored him some political points, bought him some time with the Chibok parents, and at the same time sent a message against the ongoing stigma against girls and women like Amina across the country.
Did you know that?
- 270 girls were abducted from the Chibok Secondary school on April 14, 2014.
- 218 girls of the Chibock girls are still missing
- Boko Haram insurgents have spread to neighboring Chad and Cameroon.
- Sara becomes the second woman to be rescued in a week, after Amina was rescued on Wednesday.
In Egypt: the search is on for MS 804
Aggrieved families are coming to terms with news emerging that flight MS 804 might have crashed in the Mediterranean Sea, after the army showed footages of debris discovered in the Mediterranean Sea.
Egyptian authorities have deployed a robotic submarine to help search for the data recording box (black boxes) of the missing place.
According to military sources, the unnamed submarine is normally used to fix offshore oil rigs. The submarine will be searching for the black boxes at a depth of 2, 500 to 3, 000 meters deep.
MS 804 which was travelling from France to Egypt had 56 passengers and 10 crew members. Investigators say everyone on board including 30 Egyptian nationals is feared dead. Among them is 31 year old Ahmed Ashery and his wife Reham.
Family members of Ahmed told Egyptian newspaper Masrawy that he sold his family house and used almost all his life saving to save his wife from dying from cancer. The couple travelled to France for surgery and Reham was on her way to a full recovery when they decided to return to Egypt. They could never return, possibly not even their corpses. They left behind three children who could now be orphans.
The first body of one of the people on board the plane has been sent to Egypt for identification. Families have been requested to help with DNA samples so their relatives could be identified.
The picture is grim so far. No full body has been recovered, so far only human parts have been found. Shoes, unused safety vests and pieces of clothes and baggage are among the things that have been found.
Preliminary investigation suggests that there was smoke in the cabin minutes before the plane disappeared from the radar. Analysis of the debris gathered so far in the Mediterranean suggests that there was an explosion in the cockpit which forced the plane to plunge in to the sea. In trying to turn the tone down, Egypt President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi has warned that people should not make early conclusions.
But the Egyptian aviation ministry is not wasting anytime to draw conclusions. In a statement they suggested that this could have been a terrorist attack rather than a technical fault, citing current evidences that have been gathered.
Theories regarding a possible terrorist attack on the plane is not farfetched. In October last year, a Russian operated airplane was blown up over Sanai Penisular in Egypt and more than 200 passengers died. Sinai Province, a local militia group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
French and Egyptian authorities are conducting joint search operations in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile Charles de Gaule airport in France has refused to tighten up security amidst fear that there is a security threat on the horizon.
The missing airplane took off from Charles de Gaule airport in France and was set to land in Cairo.
Did you know that?
- Flight MS 804 disappeared from the radar at 00:29 GMT, three minutes after smoke was first detected in the planes lavatory.
- If found, the black box could have recordings of the last moments before the crash. Things said and alarm sounds could all be analyzed and explained to know the cause of the crash.
- This is the second plane disaster in less than 12 months to be involved with Egypt. In October last year, Sinai Province blew up a Russian passenger jet, killing 224 passengers.
Opposition protest turns deadly in Kenya
Local media reports from Kenya suggest that at least three people have been killed during a nationwide opposition protests. The CORD coalition of Kenya have been demonstrating for the fourth Monday in a row over demands that members of the electoral commission should resign ahead of next year’s Parliamentary and Presidential elections.
It is not clear what caused the death of the protesters, but Police have already denied any shots fired. Last week a video footage that went viral showed Police officers unleashing brutality on opposition supporters, this caused outrage among Kenyans. The Police say investigation is ongoing and that they will prosecute officers who are found wanting.
Deputy President William Ruto described the protests as illegal because it failed to adequately inform the Police.
CORD coalition has accused members of the electoral commission of being bias in favor of the governing Jubilee coalition. For this reason they have been leading protests against the commission for the last four weeks, with schedule protests every Monday.
This Monday protest was held in opposition stronghold of Kisumu and a similar one was dispersed in the coastal town of Mombasa. In Nairobi heavy Police presence in the street prevented any number of people to gather, to prevent similar protests.
Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta said last week that the opposition should challenge the commission through the constitution rather than through violence.
Kenya’s last election was in 2013, the election was peaceful. But the country is still haunted by images of the ‘rigged’ 2007 elections which left more than a thousand people dead and over six hundred thousand injured during the ensuing violence.
President Kenyatta and Vice President Ruto were two of the parties in the conflict. Early this year cases against both men were dropped by the International Criminal Court, after most of the witnesses refused to testify against them.
The country is set to go in to a general multi tier election in August 2017 and situations like the protest are warning signs that the authorities in Kenya and the international community must take seriously.
Did you know that?
- Uhuru Kenyatta is the son of former freedom fighter and Kenya independent hero, President Jomo Kenyatta. He was born exactly the year his father was released from prison, 1961.
- Uhuru would be running for his second term as president, next August.
- Multi party elections only returned to the country in 1992.
- Over 1000 people died during the 2007 post election violence and more than 600, 000 thousand people were wounded.
(C) Politico 24/05/16
