A UAE newspaper has said that the release of 82 Chibok girls kidnapped in Nigeria in 2014 by Boko Haram militants comes as a big relief to the parents and the rest of the world, but the dreaded group should not be let away easily and has to be held accountable for its wicked actions.
Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war, seizing thousands of innocent women and children, and forcibly recruiting young men and boys into their ranks.
"The Chibok girls have become a symbol of the Nigerian conflict and efforts should be intensified to get the rest of the girls held by the group freed too," said The Gulf Today in an editorial on Monday.
The paper went on to say, "In a less publicised attack in November 2014, some 300 children were among about 500 people kidnapped from the town of Damasak, on the border with Niger, in the far north of Borno state. Unfortunately, most of them are still missing.
"Last month, parents and supporters marked the three-year anniversary of the Chibok abduction. The situation has remained an unending nightmare for them.
"The ICRC and the Swiss government deserve praise for tactful handling of the issue and mediating in several months of negotiations to obtain Saturday’s release of the girls.
"A first-of-its-kind United Nations report last week cited grave violations against children by Boko Haram.
"According to Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, with tactics including widespread recruitment and use, abductions, sexual violence, attacks on schools and the increasing use of children in so-called suicide attacks, Boko Haram has inflicted unspeakable horror upon the children of Nigeria’s north-east and neighbouring countries.
"Between January 2013 and December 2016, attacks by Boko Haram on communities and confrontations between the group and security forces resulted in at least 3,900 children killed and 7,300 more maimed.
"Suicide attacks became the second leading cause of child casualties, accounting for over 1,000 deaths and 2,100 injuries during the reporting period.
"The UN verified the use of 90 children for suicide bombings in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, the majority of whom were girls.
"Rights group Amnesty International is correct in saying that the 82 freed Chibok schoolgirls should be quickly released to their families and not subjected to lengthy government detention or publicity stunts.
"As Boko Haram has seized thousands of captives in less than a decade, more attention should be paid to victims of less-publicised mass abductions by the extremist group," concluded the paper.

Source: WAM