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Nigeria - Nurse Working for UNICEF Escapes Captivity after 6 Years : AFP / RFI

According to the Nigerian military, Alice Loksha, a Nigerian nurse working for UNICEF in the northeast of the country, escaped captivity after being held for six years by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

On March 1, 2018 rebel fighters raided a humanitarian camp housing 60,000 displaced people. Three more UNICEF health workers were killed in the attack, along with eight Nigerian soldiers.

Loksha was taken along with two Nigerian midwives -- Saifura Khorsa and Hauwa Liman -- who had been working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC workers were later murdered.

The ISWAP group forced Loksha to "marry" two separate ISWAP commanders and she had a child from the first marriage.

Before her capture Loksha was married and had two children. A UN source in the region told AFP that efforts were ongoing to resolve “complications” surrounding her future.

“We have a delicate situation in our hands because her husband had remarried after her kidnap, thinking she was already dead, and now here she is with another man’s child,” the source told AFP.

Click here for the article on RFI

Editor's Note: Although the Nigerian military and media identify Loksha and others as employees of UNICEF and ICRC, we have not yet seen clarification or confirmation of their employment from the UN, UNICEF or ICRC. 



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