None of the 900 people freed from Boko Haram captivity earlier this month are victims of the 2014 kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria, according to news reports.
Cameroon said 2 Dec. it had freed the 900, held by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, in Nigeria’s northern region. As reported at the time by the BBC, details were skimpy: No information on where Cameroon’s forces had engaged the militants; no details about the identities of the freed hostages; no independent confirmation; and no indication whether any of them were among the nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped from their Chibok school in early 2014.
But on 8 Dec., confirmation came: “The people that were freed are just villagers, the schoolgirls who are missing are not amongst the group,” the Vanguard quoted Cameroon Information Minister Issa Bakari as saying.
Cameroon, Nigeria’s eastern neighbour, has been pushing back Boko Haram in Nigeria throughout 2015, as part of a regional force that includes Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Benin.
