http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/world/africa/in-nigeria-joy-for-girls-freed-by-boko-haram-what-of-the-rest.html 2016-10-14 21:39:22 In Nigeria, Joy for Girls Freed by Boko Haram. What of the Rest? The country celebrated the release of 21 girls whom Boko Haram had seized from their school in April 2014, but many others remain unaccounted for. === LAGOS, Nigeria — People fanned out on bicycles and on foot across a remote region of northeastern Nigeria on Friday to notify the families of 21 girls that they had been Roads in the area are poor, and Boko Haram had blown up cellphone towers in the region, so many people had not heard the news that the 21 girls — among the more than 270 who “We are not all in the same towns,” Yakubu Nkeki, the chairman of a parents’ group that has urged more aggressive efforts to secure the girls’ release, said in a phone interview on Friday, adding that some of the relatives lived as far as 12 miles from Chibok. But even as the nation rejoiced, relatives of an additional 197 girls who are believed to still be held by Boko Haram were crushed when a handwritten list of the freed girls was released and they saw that their sisters, nieces and daughters were not on it. “Many of them reacted so disappointed, because they were feeling that ‘Maybe my daughter will be among them,’” said Sambido Hosea, a leader of a community of people from Chibok in Abuja, the capital. One of those people, Ayuba Alamson, had hoped for news of two cousins, Ruth Amos and Mary Ali, who were abducted. Their names were not among the 21, he said, although several of the released schoolgirls were part of his extended family. “I am somehow worried, and a lot of people will be worried,” he said in a phone interview, “but at the same time, I am somehow happy for a lot of my relations, now that these girls have been found.” None of the 21 have gone home yet or spoken publicly about the ordeal, although several appeared at a news conference on Thursday with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Doctors, social workers, psychologists and trauma experts are looking after the girls at a medical center in Abuja. One girl gave birth during her captivity and is nursing a 20-month-old boy, who was also released. Muhammadu Buhari, who made securing the girls’ release a cornerstone of his campaign last year for the presidency of Nigeria, said Friday that around 100 other girls were “somewhere in the area of Lake Chad,” but that the government did not know precisely where they were. Speaking in Berlin alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, where he was paying an official visit, Mr. Buhari said that Nigerian security forces had “almost succeeded” in ensuring that there was no area of the country where Boko Haram dominates. He also said his wife, Aisha Buhari, “belongs to my kitchen,” responding to comments she made to the BBC criticizing the makeup of his government. The comment drew outrage from Nigerians on social media who saw the remark as sexist. The mass kidnapping was condemned around the world, and a campaign, Pressure mounted on Mr. Buhari’s administration after months without any news, although his government recently disclosed that it had been negotiating with Boko Haram. Several dozen girls escaped The Nigerian and Swiss governments on Friday denied “The government has no reason to conceal a swap, if indeed it took place, considering that the president has repeatedly stated his readiness to swap fighters for the girls if necessary,” the Nigerian government said in a statement. The A.P., citing an unidentified Nigerian hostage negotiator who was not involved in the release of the girls, said Switzerland had paid a ransom on behalf of the Nigerian government and would recoup the money from a sum of about $321 million that it had committed to repatriate to Nigeria this year from frozen assets looted during the military dictatorship of Asked about the report, a spokesman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry, Jean-Marc Crevoisier, denied it. “There is no connection between the liberation of the young girls and the restitution of the Abacha funds,” Mr. Crevoisier said. “The restitution of the funds, for which the definitive procedures have yet to be decided, will be carried out through a program monitored by the A spokeswoman for the Although Boko Haram has been “Stories of factional fighting are emerging, but it is unlikely the military will be able to capitalize on this,” Mr. Walker said. “The military for the most part are still poorly trained, poorly motivated and poorly equipped; also they act almost like a foreign occupying force. Their brutality toward the general population will help to bring the insurgency to an end and may be adding to the rapidly escalating food and humanitarian crisis.” Unicef The released girls will face severe challenges, said Fatima Akilu, a psychologist who used to run a government deradicalization program for Boko Haram members and worked on a plan for reintegrating the Chibok girls in the event of their rescue. Previously released captives have been “Coming out of captivity, there’s often a sense of helplessness, a sense of bewilderment, and really being overwhelmed at coming back at a society that’s changed and a society where you have changed,” Dr. Akilu said. “The women and girls who coming back are not the same, and they have to adjust to the changes they have endured.”