First Schoolgirl Rescued From Infamous 2014 Boko Haram Kidnapping
Yesterday in Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest near the Cameroon border, anti-Boko Haram forces doing a nightly patrol were met by one of the 219 girls who were taken from their school dormitories by the terrorist organization in 2014.
According to the BBC, activists said her name is Amina Ali Nkeki, though a spokesperson for the Nigerian army gave her name as Falmata Mbalala. Nkeki (the name used by the BBC) is the first of the 219 to be rescued since the kidnapping, not including the several dozen students who managed to escape in the hours after the attack.
Per CNN, Nkeki was recognized by a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, the anti-Boko Haram brigade, as she exited the forest with a man who identified himself as her husband and the father of her child. The BBC reports that Nkeki said she was in search of firewood.
Last month, CNN obtained a portion of a proof of life tape sent by Boko Haram to negotiators working on securing the release of the women, which showed 15 of the hostages, shrouded in black robes except for their faces, identifying themselves to the camera. It was, the BBC reports, the first time any of the women had been seen since May 2014, not long after they were kidnapped.
According to the BBC, which spoke to Hosea Abana Tsambido, the chairman of the Chibok community, Nkeki said six of the women have died during their captivity, with the rest still hidden in the Sambisa Forest
Nkeki, who was 17 when she was kidnapped, was reunited with her mother in Chibok.