As the world reacts with outrage to the killing of a second aid worker, Hauwa Liman, by a faction of Boko Haram, her distraught family are holding out hope that she might still be alive. Hauwa who works with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was killed by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the Nigerian government confirmed on Monday in a statement condemning the act.
Her father Mohammed Liman says the heart-breaking news, barely a month after another aid worker – Saifura Ahmed – who was abducted with her in March was killed, is hard to believe.
“We feel so bad and we are in doubt if she is dead or alive because we didn’t expect her to be killed so suddenly,” Liman told Channels Television at the family home in Maiduguri,
The family had expected that the insurgents would give the government time to meet their demands. And although the government, ICRC and many others across the globe have condemned the murder, her family remains in doubt that she is dead.
“In fact, we are in doubt because, unless we see her corpse or any evidence that shows she is dead, we still believe that she is living. She is living,” her father insisted with her mom and other women in the home breaking down in tears intermittently.
Struggling to keep his emotions in check, Liman appealed to the insurgents to understand that Hauwa was not a warring party and should not have been made to face the ordeal she faced.
“I appeal to the insurgents to release her because she is not a warring party. She is a humanitarian worker. She treats the young and the women and she is so helpful, even to them; not only to the whole society – even to them,” he said.
As many across the world struggle to make sense on the ever-more brutal approach adopted by the terrorists that have ravaged Nigeria’s northeast, Hauwa’s family wants the government to help them get closure.
“We appeal to the government, if she was dead at all, we want the corpse to be brought and we bury her. That will give us peace of mind. Otherwise, we will never forget such an incident in our lives,” her dad pleaded.
Hauwa’s mother, Iyakachi, like her dad, is struggling to make sense of the nightmare she has had to endure.
Despite repeatedly break in down in tears before speaking to Channels Television, she remains hopeful.