Nigeria Should Help Release Abducted Medical Staff to Prevent Their Death - IRC

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged on Sunday the Nigerian authorities to ensure the release of the abducted medical staff, as the deadline set by militants to kill them was approaching.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is making an urgent public appeal to the Nigerian Government and to communities and individuals with influence to work toward the release of two committed medical workers abducted in north-eastern Nigeria earlier this year … A deadline that could result in the killing of another health-care worker is less than 24 hours away," the ICRC statement reads.

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The ICRC also asked the Daesh* West African province group, keeping the medics in captivity, for mercy, urging them not to kill the healthcare workers.

According to the committee, Hauwa Mohammed Liman, working with the ICRC-sponsored hospital, and Alice Loksha, an employee of a center supported by The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), was kidnapped on March 1 along with ICRC colleague Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa. Khorsa was killed in September, the ICRC said.

Nigeria and neighboring countries have been suffering from attacks by terrorist groups, including numerous kidnappings. Earlier in the week, UNICEF urged all militant groups in Nigeria to halt recruitment of children and release them. 

*Daesh is a terrorist group banned in Russia.