Nigeria president meets relatives of hostage school girls

 

 President Goodluck Jonathan speaking to some of the Chibok schoolgirls who escaped 

president Jonathan, whose handling of the hostage crisis has been fiercely criticized, held talks in the capital Abuja with the families of the teenagers who are still missing as well as girls who escaped their Islamist captors.

Some of those who travelled from Chibok -- the remote northeastern town assaulted by Boko Haram on April 14 -- burst into tears when the president entered the room, an AFP reporter said.The talks were closed to the media but speaking afterwards one participant said the exchange was cordial, if inconclusive.

"It was a very peaceful and loving meeting. No arguments," said Ayuba Chibok, who has nieces among the hostages.

Jonathan "said he would use every capability for the girls to come back... For me, I want to wait to see if there is improvement," Chibok added. "I want to see action."

There was a chance the meeting could turn hostile amid outrage over the response by the government and military to the April raid that saw 276 girls carted away on trucks from their school by the Islamist extremists. Fifty-seven girls have since escaped.

Jonathan hardly commented on the attack for weeks, while the military failed to launch a significant search-and-rescue operation and had to retract a statement claiming that all but eight of the girls had been freed.

 Jonathan assured the Chibok delegation that seeing the hostages "brought out alive... is the main objective of government," presidential spokesman Reuben Abati told journalists.

See more photos afer the cut.