Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 100 schoolchildren who were kidnapped at gunpoint from a Catholic school last month, as France has pledged more support for the country.
Local broadcaster Channels Television reported the release of 100 children, without giving details on whether their release secured was through negotiation or military force.
A United Nations source told the AFP news agency that the children arrived in the capital, Abuja, on Sunday and are to be handed over to local government officials in Niger state on Monday.
The fate of the remaining 165 students and staff remains unclear.
In late November gunmen attacked St Mary’s boarding school in Papiri, kidnapping 315 students and staff. Some 50 students escaped shortly afterward, and until Sunday there had been no information on the whereabouts of the others, including staff and students as young as six years old.
It is unclear who was the kidnapping, though it came as part of what the UN has called a “surge in mass abductions” in the last few weeks.
Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups have plagued Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 school girls in the town of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists.
Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has declared a national state of emergency in the country plagued by insecurity, divided between a majority Muslim north and a majority Christian south.
He said he ordered the army and police to recruit 20,000 additional personnel.
The kidnappings come as US President Donald Trump has called the killing of Christians in Nigeria a “genocide” and threatened military intervention.
On Sunday France offered increased support for Nigeria, that French President Emmanuel Macron said was facing “various security challenges, particularly the terrorist threat in the North”.
At Tinubu's request, France will "strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations," Macron wrote on X.
"We call on all our partners to step up their engagement. No one can remain a spectator".
(with AFP)
