The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), after receiving information indicating that Hauwa Liman has been killed by her captors in a despicable act of cruelty, says the death has broken the hearts of many.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Hauwa is the second abducted health worker in Nigeria to be murdered in the last month.
“A second health worker held hostage in Nigeria has been murdered. It’s utterly devastating that we have to write that sentence,” ICRC stated in confirmation of the death of Hauwa.
“The news of Hauwa’s death has broken our hearts,” said ICRC’s Regional Director for Africa, Patricia Danzi.
“We appealed for mercy and an end to such senseless murders. How can it be that two female health care workers were killed back-to-back? Nothing can justify this,” she lamented.
Hauwa, 24, was full of life, becoming a midwife at an early age. People who knew her described her as 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.
Hauwa was abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in an attack in the north-eastern town of Rann on 01 March, together with Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa and Alice Loksha.
Saifura was deliberately killed on 16 September, while Alice remains in captivity, along with Leah Sharibu, a 15-year-old student abducted by the group in a separate incident in February.
Hauwa and Saifura worked in a health-care centre supported by the ICRC; Alice worked in a centre supported by UNICEF.
The ICRC 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 West Africa 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,” said Danzi.
Tag: ICRC
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“Hauwa’s death has broken our hearts”
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U.S. condemns killing of Hauwa Liman
The U.S. Embassy has condemned the killing of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), health worker, Hauwa Liman by Boko Haram on Monday.
The embassy in statement on Tuesday in Abuja expressed its condolence to the family of Liman and the ICRC.
”We stand in solidarity with our Nigerian partners as we work to defeat ISIS-West Africa and prevent these tragedies.
”Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hauwa’s family, to her colleagues, and to those still suffering in captivity,” it stated.
Recall that the Boko Haram jihadists had on Monday killed Hauwa, another kidnapped female aid worker in northeast, Nigeria.
This is coming a month after one of her colleagues, Saifura Khorsa, who also worked for ICRC, was murdered.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed had described the killing as “dastardly, inhuman and ungodly,” and vowed to push for the release of the remaining female captives.
Three female health workers were kidnapped during a Boko Haram raid on the remote town of Rann, in Borno state, on March 1 that killed three other aid workers and eight Nigerian soldiers.
Two of the kidnapped women, Hauwa Liman and Saifura Khorsa, worked for the ICRC while the third, Alice Loksha, worked for the UN children’s agency, (UNICEF).
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Abducted healthcare workers: ICRC raises alarm over Boko Haram’s 24 hours deadline
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has raised an alarm over the 24 hours deadline given by Boko Haram to eliminate another female staff held captive by the insurgents.
Mr Mamadou Sow, Head of ICRC’s Operations in the Lake Chad Basin, in a statement on Sunday made an appeal to the Nigerian Government, communities and individuals towards the release of two medical workers.
Sow named the affected medical workers as; Hauwa Mohammed and Alice Loksha.
According to Sow, speed and urgency are critical. A deadline that could result in the killing of another health care worker is less than 24 hours away.
“To the holder of these kidnapped women, we urge you for mercy. We urge you not to kill another innocent health care worker, who was doing nothing but helping the community in north-east Nigeria.’’
Sow noted that Hauwa worked in a hospital supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), when she was abducted March 1, 2018 with Alice, a nurse who worked in a centre supported by UNICEF.
“Hauwa and Alice are medical workers, who chose to work and help vulnerable communities in Rann, an area heavily affected by violence.
“The town’s population has more than doubled because of the conflict, while most local health care staff have fled. These women were providing essential and life-saving services to thousands of people, displaced and residents alike. All they sought to do was help,” he said.
According to him, the third health care worker abducted alongside Hauwa and Alice was ICRC colleague, Saifura Hussaini, who was killed by her abductors in September.
Sow urged those involved with this case to do everything they could to avoid a repeat of that devastating outcome.
He noted that Leah Sharibu, a 15-year-old school student, was taken from her school in Dapchi, in a separate abduction incident in February.
He, however, added that she was also being held by the same armed group and everything must be done to ensure her prompt and unharmed release.
The Director of ICRC Operations in Africa, Patricia Danzi, also urged the Federal Government to work towards the release of the innocent spirited individuals.
“We urge you to 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.
“They are daughters and sisters; one is a mother, women with their future ahead of them, children to raise, and families to return to,” She said.
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FG, States to earn $361bn from Lekki deep sea port – ICRC
The Federal Government and the 36 states are expected to earn about 361 billion dollars as revenue when operation begins at the Lekki deep sea port in Lagos.
Lekki Port, a multi-purpose, Deep Sea Port at the heart of the Lagos Free Trade Zone, Lekki Port will be one of the most modern ports, supporting the burgeoning trade across Nigeria and the entire West African region, and providing the connection to the global shipping network.
The Acting Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Chidi Izuwah, made this disclosure at the end of a closed door meeting he had with the promoters of the port.
Izuwah and his team who were on an inspection tour of Lekki Deep sea port on Friday also said that aside from the 361 billion Dollars, both the state and federal government agencies would also earn about 201 billion dollars from taxes, royalties and duties from activities in the port.
Izuwah said that operation at the Lekki free trade zone would create over 170,000 jobs directly and indirectly from port operations.
He said: “Approximately 20 billion dollars is expected to be spent on employee salaries. Investment on fixed assets in the port will gulp about 1.53 billion dollars while 800 million is expected to go into construction work.”
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Suffering in Lake Chad as children starve, mothers sell sex to survive – Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday said women in the Lake Chad basin had been forced to prostitute to survive.
ICRC attributed it to an insurgency by Boko Haram fighters that had driven millions from their homes and left children to starve.
The violence has displaced over 2.4 million people across the swamp lands of Lake Chad, where the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria meet, and disrupted the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of others,’’ ICRC said.
According to the United Nations, up to a million people have been cut off from humanitarian aid by Boko Haram in spite of a regional military offensive against the Islamist militants.
“It’s extraordinary to see a woman and her family and they have nothing other than what they have been given.
“The children are clearly malnourished and it’s just hopeless,’’ Simon Brooks, head of ICRC’s delegation in Cameroon, said.
According to Brooks, as the head of their households, some mothers have been forced to prostitute so they could feed their family since many no longer have husbands because of the conflict.
“When you don’t have the means to survive, you’ll go begging for it.
“It’s a loss of dignity when you’re having to resort to something like that just to keep your children alive – fraternizing with people who have money,’’ he said.
The unfolding catastrophe in the Lake Chad basin was named the most neglected crisis of 2016 in a poll of aid agencies by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Overshadowed by the wars in Syria and Iraq and the global refugee and migrant crisis, Lake Chad has barely made the headlines,’’ Brooks said during an interview in London.
Report says over 7 million people lack food but insecurity makes it hard for aid agencies to reach the most vulnerable.
“Half a million children are severely acutely malnourished and on the brink of death if they are not treated.
“This area has suffered from decades of chronic neglect … if it continues to be under-funded and under-reported, then millions of people will continue to suffer,’’ Brooks said.