{UAH} Boko Haram faction kills second aid worker in Nigeria
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Boko Haram faction kills second aid worker in Nigeria
REUTERSMidwife Hauwa Liman was helping displaced women and children when she was kidnappedAn aid worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been killed in Nigeria by Islamist militants who kidnapped her last March.
Hauwa Liman, a midwife, was killed days after kidnappers set a deadline.
The ICRC said it was devastated by the news. The Nigerian government called the murder "inhuman and ungodly".
Ms Liman was taken with two others in the northern Nigerian town of Rann. Fellow midwife Saifura Ahmed Khorsa was killed last month.
A 15-year-old schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, is being held by the same militant group, Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap), which is affiliated to the Islamic State group and is a faction of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram.
Ms Sharibu was one of 110 schoolgirls who were kidnapped in the northern town of Dapchi last February. Most of the other students were freed but Ms Sharibu, who reportedly refused to convert to Islam, remains in captivity.
What more do we know about the kidnappings?
Ms Liman, 24, and Ms Khorsa were working with internally displaced people at a health centre supported by the ICRC in Rann, Borno State, the epicentre of militant activity. Alice Loksha was working as a nurse in another centre supported by Unicef.
They were abducted after Iswap fighters attacked the town on 1 March 2018. Three other humanitarian workers and eight members of the security forces were killed in the attack.
Last month, the ICRC received a video showing the killing of Ms Khorsa.
Exactly a month later, on Monday, another video appeared showing the killing of Ms Liman. A local reporter, who said he had seen it, reported that Ms Liman was shot at close range.
The ICRC said she was a "sociable, dynamic and enthusiastic woman who was much loved by family and friends. She was truly dedicated to her work helping vulnerable women in her family's home area".
What did the militants want?
Chris Ewokor, Abuja, Nigeria
The militants did not make their demands public. The excuse they gave for killing Ms Khorsa in September was that they had put forward their demands to the government but they were ignored. The government has not disclosed what the jihadists were demanding.
It is unclear why the ICRC would be targeted when it acted as an intermediary between the government and Boko Haram for the release of the Chibok girls in 2017.
In a short statement after the killing of Ms Liman, Iswap said the Muslims midwives were killed because they had "abandoned their Islam the moment they chose to work with the Red Cross". It shows how brutal and intolerant the militants are.
What has been the reaction to the killing?
The ICRC said it had "made sustained and committed efforts to secure the release of the three health-care workers, including a last-minute plea for mercy on Sunday to the Islamic State's West African province group, to no avail.
"Hauwa and Saifura's deaths are not only a tragedy for their families, but they will also be felt by thousands of people in Rann and other conflict-affected areas of north-east Nigeria where accessing health care remains a challenge. We urge the group holding Alice and Leah to release them safely," Patricia Danzi, the ICRC's regional director, said.
Nigerian Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the government was "deeply pained" by news of the killing, but added it would "keep the negotiations open" and continue to work to free Ms Loksha and Ms Sharibu.
Iswap has reportedly said it plans to keep the nurse and the schoolgirl, both Christians, as slaves.
What do we know about the militants?
Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009 and took control of large swathes of land in the north-east.
Its leader Abubakar Shekau gained worldwide notoriety in 2014 following the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok.
In the wake of this, Shekau's fighters joined IS. But it appears to have been a fractious relationship as IS sacked him in 2016, saying Abu Musab al-Barnawi was the new leader of the militants in Nigeria.
Over the last five years, most areas under the militants' control have been recaptured by the military, but the two factions have continued to carry out attacks.
The Iswap faction, under Barnawi, has raised its profile this year, including kidnapping the Dapchi schoolgirls in February. It is not clear if this is a tactic to raise funds through ransom payments or to be more militant than Shekau's faction.
Very sad update on the fate of abducted Nigerian school girl Leah Sharibu. Leah is being kept together in captivity with two hostages belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross, who were themselves abducted by the Muslim holy warriors in March. A third, midwife Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, was beheaded in September when the warriors demands were not met. In fact, these humanitarian workers are the ones caring for 15 year old Leah Sharibu. The Allah's warriors have given the Red Cross 24 hours to meet still unspecified demands, or else they will behead their two hostages Medical workers Hauwa Mohammed Liman, along with Leah Sharibu. But last week, the muslim holy warriors had given a deadline by which they expected Leah Sharibu to have converted to islam, otherwise she would be beheaded. It is not clear at this stage whether this is the condition they have given for their 24 hour deadline. The actions of these Muslim Holy warriors become even more inexplicable since these two medical workers are themselves muslims, and one would have thought Allah would spare them and not have them beheaded as his soldiers are threatening.
Bobby
Red Cross begs Islamic State over planned execution of health workers
NIGERIA
Islamic State in Nigeria might kill healthcare workers it has held hostage since March within 24 hours, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Sunday, pleading for mercy and urging Nigeria's government to intervene.
Medical workers Hauwa Mohammed Liman and Alice Loksha were working in the town of Rann when they were kidnapped in March along with ICRC midwife Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, who was killed in September, the ICRC said in a statement.
The armed group was also holding a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, who was abducted in February from her school in the town of Dapchi, it said.
"Speed and urgency are critical. A deadline that could result in the killing of another healthcare worker is less than 24 hours away," the ICRC said in a statement, without giving further details on the deadline or its conditions.
There have been no reports of the militants making any demands in exchange for the release of their hostages.
"We urge you: spare and release these women. They are a midwife, a nurse and a student. Like all those abducted, they are not part of any fight," Patricia Danzi, director of ICRC operations in Africa, was quoted as saying in the statement.
"They are daughters and sisters, one is a mother — women with their futures ahead of them, children to raise, and families to return to."
Liman was working as a midwife at an ICRC-supported hospital, while Loksha was nurse working with UNICEF.
The Geneva-based ICRC, which often works behind the scenes for humanitarian goals in war zones, identified the kidnappers as members of ISWA – Islamic State's off-shoot in West Africa, after previously declining to name the group.
The organisation did not say how it knew about the 24-hour deadline.
Two spokesman for Nigeria's president did not immediately respond to phone calls and a text message seeking comment.
Islamic State in West Africa split from the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram in 2016 and has killed hundreds of soldiers in attacks in northeastern Nigeria in the past few months, security and military sources have told Reuters.
Like Boko Haram, ISWA wants to create a separate state in northeast Nigeria that adheres to a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
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