Boko Haram freed women tell of captivity horror
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Boko Haram freed women tell of captivity horror
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The freed women and children travelled for days on pick-up trucks
to the Yola camp
Boko Haram
The women said Boko Haram fighters started pelting
them when they refused to run away as the army came nearer.
A group of nearly 300 women and children was brought
out of the vast Sambisa forest to a government camp.
The military says it has rescued more than 700 people
in the past week in an offensive against the Islamist group.
The women said several were killed in the stoning, but
they did not know how many.
The survivors said that when they were initially
captured, the militants had killed men and older boys in front of their
families before taking women and children into the forest.
Some were forced into marriage.
They said the Islamists never let them out of their
sight - not even when they went to the toilet.
"They didn't allow us to move an inch," one
of the freed women, Asabe Umaru, told Reuters news agency. "We were kept
in one place. We were under bondage."
Media caption The women and children were
brought to a refugee camp from the vast Sambisa forest
One woman described how they were fed just one meal a
day.
"We were fed only ground dry maize in the
afternoons. It was not good for human consumption," Cecilia Abel told
Reuters. This led to malnutrition, disease and death.
"Every day, we witnessed the death of one of us
and waited for our turn," Muar, a 24-year-old mother of two, told Reuters.
The women and children travelled for three days on
pick-up trucks from the vast Sambas forest where they were rescued, to the camp
in the city of Yola.
Through interviews, officials have determined that
almost all those rescued are from Gumsuri, a village near the town of Chibok,
the Associated Press news agency reports.
It does not appear that any of those released are from
the group of nearly 300 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram a year ago
in a mass abduction that led to worldwide protests calling for the girls'
release.
Thousands have been killed in northern Nigeria since
Boko Harem began its insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state.
In February, Nigeria's military, backed by troops from
neighbouring countries, launched a major offensive against the Islamist
fighters, recapturing Boko Haram territory taken in the previous year.
The freed women and children travelled for days on pick-up trucks
to the Yola camp
Boko Haram
The women said Boko Haram fighters started pelting
them when they refused to run away as the army came nearer.
A group of nearly 300 women and children was brought
out of the vast Sambisa forest to a government camp.
The military says it has rescued more than 700 people
in the past week in an offensive against the Islamist group.
The women said several were killed in the stoning, but
they did not know how many.
The survivors said that when they were initially
captured, the militants had killed men and older boys in front of their
families before taking women and children into the forest.
Some were forced into marriage.
They said the Islamists never let them out of their
sight - not even when they went to the toilet.
"They didn't allow us to move an inch," one
of the freed women, Asabe Umaru, told Reuters news agency. "We were kept
in one place. We were under bondage."
Media caption The women and children were
brought to a refugee camp from the vast Sambisa forest
One woman described how they were fed just one meal a
day.
"We were fed only ground dry maize in the
afternoons. It was not good for human consumption," Cecilia Abel told
Reuters. This led to malnutrition, disease and death.
"Every day, we witnessed the death of one of us
and waited for our turn," Muar, a 24-year-old mother of two, told Reuters.
The women and children travelled for three days on
pick-up trucks from the vast Sambas forest where they were rescued, to the camp
in the city of Yola.
Through interviews, officials have determined that
almost all those rescued are from Gumsuri, a village near the town of Chibok,
the Associated Press news agency reports.
It does not appear that any of those released are from
the group of nearly 300 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram a year ago
in a mass abduction that led to worldwide protests calling for the girls'
release.
Thousands have been killed in northern Nigeria since
Boko Harem began its insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state.
In February, Nigeria's military, backed by troops from
neighbouring countries, launched a major offensive against the Islamist
fighters, recapturing Boko Haram territory taken in the previous year.
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