ICRC - News Release No. 18/53
16 October 2018

Abuja/Geneva (ICRC) – A second health worker held hostage in Nigeria has been murdered.

It's utterly devastating that we have to write that sentence.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) received information indicating that Hauwa Mohammed Liman has been killed by her captors in a despicable act of cruelty.

Hauwa is the second abducted health worker in Nigeria to be murdered in the last month.

“The news of Hauwa’s death has broken our hearts,” said ICRC’s Regional Director for Africa, Patricia Danzi. “We appealed for mercy and an end to such senseless murders. How can it be that two female health care workers were killed back-to-back? Nothing can justify this.”

Hauwa, 24, was full of life, becoming a midwife at an early age. People who knew her described her as a sociable, dynamic and enthusiastic woman who was much loved by family and friends. She was truly dedicated to her work helping vulnerable women in her family’s home area.

Hauwa was abducted in an attack in the north-eastern town of Rann on 01 March, together with Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa and Alice Loksha. Saifura was deliberately killed on 16 September, while Alice remains in captivity, along with Leah Sharibu, a 15-year-old student abducted by the group in a separate incident in February. Hauwa and Saifura worked in a health-care centre supported by the ICRC; Alice worked in a centre supported by UNICEF.

The ICRC made sustained and committed efforts to secure the release of the three health-care workers, including a last-minute plea for mercy on Sunday to the Islamic State's West African province group, to no avail.

“Hauwa and Saifura’s deaths are not only a tragedy for their families, but they will also be felt by thousands of people in Rann and other conflict-affected areas of north-east Nigeria where accessing health care remains a challenge. We urge the group holding Alice and Leah to release them safely,” said Danzi.

For further information, please contact:

Aleksandra Matijevic Mosimann, ICRC Abuja, + 234 903 151 5543 (English)

Aliyu Dawobe for Hausa, ICRC Abuja, + 234 802 841 7085 (Hausa)

Krista Armstrong, ICRC Geneva, +41 79 217 32 87   (English & French)

Jean-Yves Clemenzo, ICRC Dakar, +41 79 915 23 43 (English & French)

Annick Bouvier, ICRC Geneva, +41 79 244 64 05 (English & French)

Visit our website: www.icrc.org  or Follow the ICRC on facebook.com/icrc and twitter.com/icrc
To preview and download the latest ICRC video footage in broadcast quality, go to www.icrcvideonewsroom.org
To find out what the ICRC is doing to put an end to attacks on health workers and patients, go to www.healthcareindanger.org