ICC Note

More than 20 Chibok girls celebrated their first Christmas with their families since their October release. The girls and their families were reunited in October but the girls have been debriefed by the Nigerian government in an undisclosed location since then. This Christmas marks the first opportunity for the girls to go back home. Almost 200 girls are still reported missing but there is greater hope for their return with the release of this group. Many of the Chibok girls are Christian but have been forced to convert back to Islam and marry their captors. Continue to pray for the release of the girls still in captivity and the healing of those returning home.

12/26/16 Nigeria (BBC) – More than 20 Nigerian “Chibok girls” who were released by the Islamist group Boko Haram in October have rejoined their families for Christmas.

It is the girls’ first return home since they were kidnapped from their school in Chibok in April 2014.

The young women were freed in October after Switzerland and the International Red Cross made a deal with Boko Haram.

Since then, the 21 girls have been held in a secret location for debriefing by the Nigerian government.

One of the girls, Asabe Goni, 22, told Reuters news agency it was a “miracle” that she was home again.

Helping her mother prepare for Christmas, she said she was excited to go to church on Christmas Day.

“I never knew that I would return (home),” she said simply. “I had given up hope of ever going home.”

Of the 276 students kidnapped, 197 are still reportedly missing, and negotiations for their release are under way.

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