Nigerian schoolgirls remembered as CMR receives hostages

Joy has marked the release of hostages believed to have been taken earlier this year by Boko Haram militants in Cameroon.

But amid the celebrations, there's still no word on the location of some 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the armed group in neighbouring Nigeria 180 days ago. And as Kristina Kukolja reports, concern over their fate is being felt within Australia's Nigerian community.

Free at last 27 hostages released into the hands of Cameroonian authorities after months of captivity.

10 were Chinese workers taken in May from their base in Waza, in far north Cameroon.

Another 17 people were kidnapped in Kolofata in July, among them the wife of Cameroon's deputy prime minister.

Boko Haram has never claimed responsibility for their disappearance, but is known to be active in the region.

It's also understood that military and intelligence services may have been involved.

But Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon's Communication Minister, is staying silent about how the release was arranged, and whether a ransom was paid.

"As far as the government is concerned, I think that we can say indeed, it is a resounding victory. But this is a testimony of the efficiency of the method used by the head of state."

Across the border in Nigeria the mood is far from celebratory 180 days have passed since Boko Haram militants kidnapped some 200 girls from a boarding school in the border town of Chibok.

A prisoner swap offer from the armed group in exchange for the girls was rejected by Nigeria's government.

And despite rumors that some may have been freed, none have been heard from since.

Those still holding out hope for the girls' return have held a vigil in the capital Abuja.

Nigeria's former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, joined them.

"It is emotional that you almost feel like there is a helplessness about the situation, but hope does not make ashamed. So we are not ashamed that we continue to hold onto hope. We believe that the Chibok girls can still be rescued, no matter how badly turned out they may be, by virtue of the kind of trauma that they have been through."

As night fell, a candle was lit for each of the Chibok girls.

Their names are not being forgotten Bukky Shonibare, an activist with the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign, says neither is the call for their freedom.

"If anything we desire, it's that we want them back. We are simply asking, at this point we are begging, we are pleading that they should do all that is needful and let the girls come back."

That solidarity with the kidnapped schoolgirls and those close to them is shared by members of Australia's Nigerian community.

Fred Alale is the president of a group calling itself the Nigerian Society of Victoria.

"We are all connected emotionally. And the fact that the entire Nigerian community, it's an incident that's very much on our mind, we talk about it, we very much sympathise with the mothers and families of those girls in Nigeria."

The case of the missing Chibok schoolgirls initially sparked a flurry of international outrage, and assurances from the Nigerian government they would be found.

But as time passes, there are questions about what exactly the authorities are doing to get the girls back and, indeed, contain the spread of a years long Boko Haram insurgency that's spilling over its borders.