The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has again appealed Boko Haram for the release of the two remaining hostages still being held by them.
The hostages are, Alice Loksha, a staff of UNICEF kidnapped in March and Leah Sharibu, the last of the Dapchi schoolgirls who were kidnapped in February.
The appeal which was made by ICRC’s Regional Director for Africa, Patricia Danzi on Tuesday, came a day after the Boko Haram terrorists killed the second Red Cross staff in their custody, Hauwa Mohammed Liman, an act which has drawn condemnation from around the globe.
The terrorists had on September 26, killed the hostage, Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, also a staff of the Red Cross.
In the fresh appeal, Danzi said; “Hauwa and Saifura’s deaths are not only a tragedy for their families, but to thousands of people in Rann and other conflict-affected areas of north-east Nigeria where accessing health care remains a challenge.
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“We urge the group holding Alice and Leah to release them safely. The news of Hauwa’s death has broken our hearts.
“We appeal 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.
“Hauwa, 24, was full of life, became a midwife at an early age and people who knew her described her as a sociable, dynamic and enthusiastic woman who was loved by family and friends.
“She was truly dedicated to her work helping vulnerable women in her family’s home area.”
The Red Cross had on Sunday made a frantic and passionate appeal to the Boko Haram terrorists to release the remaining hostages but the appeal failed to sway the terrorist who on Monday killed Hauwa Liman, an act the organisation described as “a despicable act of cruelty.”
Hauwa, alongside Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa and Alice Loksha were abducted by Boko Haram from an IDP camp in the north-eastern town of Rann on March 1, 2018.