The father of a young midwife executed by Boko Haram has blasted the jihadists for killing his daughter, hailing on Wednesday the “immense help” she gave to her community and expressing hope for the safe release of other hostages.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Tuesday that Hauwa Liman had been killed, a month after the murder of one of her colleagues, Saifura Khorsa.
Both were kidnapped with a third aid worker, Alice Loksha, from the UN children’s agency UNICEF, during a Boko Haram attack on the remote town of Rann, in northeast Nigeria, on March 1.
Hauwa Liman’s father, Mohammed, told AFP that he was “deeply shocked” at his daughter’s death, which came less than a week after indications from the government that they would be released.
“We are deeply disturbed, the whole family is disturbed,” he said in Hausa, in an interview in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
“Rann is my home town where I grew up and still have relations there. It is now home to more that 50,000 IDPs (internally displaced people), including children, women, and the aged who are in dire need of help. Hauwa was a trained midwife and we decided that she went there to help people who badly needed her service. Rann was also her home: her uncle and aunt still live there. She proved to be of immense help to the community in the 10 days she served in Rann. Despite what happened I have no regret that she went to Rann and offered humanitarian service. She really helped the community within these days.”
