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ISWAP Releases Video Of Six Abducted Aid Workers Begging For Their Lives As Presidency Reacts

Published

7 years ago

July 26, 2019

Six abducted aid workers

Six Nigerian NGO workers kidnapped in Borno state last week have appeared in a hostage video begging for their lives, identifying their captors as militants from the local ISIS affiliate, a group that has previously executed humanitarians.

In a three-minute video shared online on Thursday, a woman wearing a blue abaya and identifying herself as Grace begged her employer and the Nigerian government to help free her and the five men kneeling silently behind her.

This is even as the Presidency has reacted to the video through presidential spokesman, Shehu Garba, saying that it has been briefed through the responsible agency about the video.

Identifying herself as a Christian Nigerian who works for the aid organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF), she said she and her colleagues “were caught by this army called the Calipha.”

The video was released through the same channels as previous videos from the ISIS-linked Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

“I beg Action against Hunger, we have families some of us have children,” she said. “Please do something to release us.”

An Action Against Hunger spokesperson declined to say what the organisation’s policy was with regard to ransom payments. She also implored her government for help.

“We are Nigerians and we are also working for Nigerians. I’m begging the Nigerian government to please do something to see we were released.”

The six were kidnapped last Thursday, when a convoy of vehicles was attacked on the road to Damasak a northern town on the Niger border in Borno State.

Gunmen fired on the convoy, killing an ACF driver, and taking five Nigerian men and a woman hostage.

The kidnapped aid workers were seen with their armed captors on the day of their abduction passing through the villages of Chamba and Gatafo southwest of Damasak, villagers told Agence France-Presse news agency.

They are now believed to be held in an ISWAP enclave on the shores of Lake Chad.

In a statement, ACF identified the captives as “one staff member, two drivers and three health workers”, though in the video the hostage Grace said they were all staff.

“Action Against Hunger strongly requests that our staff member and her companions be released,” the group said.

“They are humanitarians and health workers and they chose to dedicate their lives to support the most vulnerable communities in Nigeria.”

A breakaway faction of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, ISWAP swore allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in 2016.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has carried out a bloody insurgency across northeastern Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. More than 27,000 people have been killed and two million displaced by the conflict, which has prompted a US military response.

The kidnapping raises concern about the targeting of humanitarian staff in an area where 7.1 million people need aid as a result of the insurgency.

“These acts of violence affect the very individuals, families, and communities that we support, and deprive vulnerable people of vital services,” said the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Edward Kallon.

ISWAP has repeatedly attacked military bases and previously targeted aid workers in northeast Nigeria. Last October, ISWAP militants killed 24-year-old midwife Hauwa Mohammed Liman after her employer the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) refused to pay a ransom for her release. A month earlier, Boko Haram murdered another ICRC midwife, Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa.

Referring to the fate of the slain aid workers, Grace said: “Some ladies from the Red Cross were caught. They asked to be released, but because Nigeria didn’t do anything about it, they were killed.”

She continued, her voice breaking: “I’m begging on behalf of those here that please Nigeria should not allow such to happen to us.”

In its reaction, the presidency said it “has been briefed by the responsible government agency about the disturbing video showing our citizens, the humanitarian aid workers held captive.”

“Presidency has been given assurances that contact is being made and the captors are being talked to.

“Besides these aid workers, there are some others about whom this engagement is about – Leah Sharibu, a religious leader and all the others. These discussions have been ongoing even before this time and what this latest incident has done is to bring urgency to the efforts that the secret service is making.

“Government is making contacts, in the hope that the captors will see reason to not visit hardship or even harm on these innocent individuals. Government is working,” Garba Shehu, President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesperson, said in a statement.

The full transcription of the video reads:

“My name is Grace, I work with Action Against Hunger an NGO in Borno state. My base is Damasak. We went to work on Thursday the 18th of July 2019 outside Damasak.

“On our way going back to Damasak, by Kinnari Chamba ward in Damasak we were caught by this army called the Khalifa. They brought us here and actually we don’t know where we are. But this minute, this moment I want to beg on my Christian Association of Nigeria because I am the only Christian amongst six of us here.

“I want to beg that CAN should do something about me to see how I can be released. I also want to beg Action Against Hunger in Borno State that we are six here and all of us are staffs, we went to work on our way coming back to our base that was when we were caught. I beg Action Against Hunger to know that we have families, some of us have children and I am begging Action Against Hunger that they should do something to release us.

“I also want to call on Nigeria that we are Nigerians; we are also working for Nigeria. I beg that the Nigerian government should please, and please, I am begging; do something to see that we are released because this has occurred before to this organisation, RED CROSS where some ladies were caught, Hauwa and Kabura there were told to ask to be released but because Nigeria did not act they were killed.

“I am begging on behalf of all of us here that please Nigeria should not allow such to happen to us. And it also happened again with Leah and Alice – because Nigeria could not do anything about them they were not released; they were also killed. I beg that Nigeria and our organisation Action Against Hunger should do something and see that we are released. Thank .

-Emergency Digest