82 Chibok girls freed – Detained extremists swap

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ABUJA, Nigeria, May 7, (AP): Nigeria’s president said he will meet with 82 Chibok schoolgirls freed this weekend after being kidnapped three years ago by Boko Haram extremists, while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) released an image of the girls boarding a helicopter to safety. President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that he will receive the girls in the capital, Abuja.

The president said the schoolgirls were freed in exchange for detained suspected extremists in the largest negotiated release so far of the nearly 300 girls whose mass abduction in 2014 highlighted the threat of Nigeria’s homegrown extremist fighters who are linked to the Islamic State group.

A first group of 21 girls were released in October as Nigeria announced it had begun negotiations with the extremist group. Before Saturday’s release, 195 of the girls had been captive. Now 113 of the girls remain unaccounted for. The ICRC, which along with the Swiss government has mediated months of negotiations between Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram, tweeted what might be the first public image of the freed schoolgirls on Sunday.

The photo showed a line of young women wearing shirts with the ICRC logo waiting to board a helicopter. The ICRC said it had acted as a neutral intermediary to transport the freed girls into Nigerian government custody. Long-suffering family members said they were eagerly awaiting a list of names and their “hopes and expectations are high.”

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