families before taking women and children into the forest where many
died of hunger and disease, freed captives toldReuterson Sunday after
they were brought to a refugee camp in Yola, Adamawa State.
The Nigerian army rescued hundreds of women and children last week
from the Islamist fighters in Sambisa Forest in a major operation that
has turned international attention to the plight of hostages.
After days on the road in pickup trucks, hundreds were released on
Sunday into the care of authorities at a refugee camp in Yola, to be
fed and treated for injuries. They spoke to reporters for the first
time.
"They didn't allow us to move an inch," said one of the freed women,
Asabe Umaru, describing her captivity. "If you needed the toilet, they
followed you. We were kept in one place. We were under bondage.
"We thank God to be alive today. We thank the Nigerian army for saving
our lives," she added.
Two hundred and seventy-five women and children, some with heads or
limbs in bandages, arrived in the camp late on Saturday.
Nearly 700 kidnap victims have been freed from the Islamist group's
forest stronghold since Tuesday, with the latest group of 234 women
and children liberated on Friday.
"When we saw the soldiers we raised our hands and shouted for help.
Boko Haram who were guarding us started stoning us so we would follow
them to another hideout, but we refused because we were sure the
soldiers would rescue us," Umaru, a 24 year-old mother of two,
toldReuters.
The prisoners suffered malnutrition and disease, she said. "Every day
we witnessed the death of one of us and waited for our turn," Mrs.
Umaru added.
Another freed captive, Cecilia Abel, said her husband and first son
had been killed in her presence before the militia forced her and her
remaining eight children into the forest.
For two weeks before the military arrived she had barely eaten.
"We were fed only ground dry maize in the afternoons. It was not good
for human consumption," she said. "Many of us that were captured died
in Sambisa Forest. Even after our rescue about 10 died on our way to
this place."
Amnesty International estimates the insurgents, who are intent on
bringing West Africa under Islamist rule, have taken more than 2,000
women and girls captive since the start of 2014. Many have been used
as cooks, sex slaves or human shields.
The prisoners freed so far do not appear to include any of more than
200 schoolgirls snatched from school dormitories in Chibok town a year
ago, an incident that drew global attention to the six-year-old
insurgency.
Umaru said her group of prisoners never came in contact with the
missing Chibok girls.
Meanwhile, the 23 Armoured Brigade of the Nigerian Army based in Yola,
Adamawa State, has handed over 275 women and children rescued from
insurgents in Sambisa Forest to the National Emergency Management
Agency for rehabilitation.
The statement quoted the Commander, 23 Armoured Brigade, Col. Aba
Popoola, as saying that "on behalf of the Nigerian Army, I want to
hand over 275 rescued women and children that we rescued from Sambisa
Forest to the National Emergency Management Agency for care and
welfare."
Receiving the rescued persons, the Director-General, NEMA, Sani Sidi,
said the rescued women and children needed special attention and that
the agency had made all the necessary arrangements with relevant
stakeholders for trauma counselling.
Ghuluze noted that the ministry had ensured regular supply of drugs to
the clinics.
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