Relatives scarred by Boko Haram's mass abduction of Nigerian schoolgirls have recounted their nightmare to President Goodluck Jonathan in their first meeting with him 100 days after the shocking attack.
Jonathan held talks in the capital Abuja on Tuesday 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 northeastern town assaulted by Boko Haram on April 14 - burst into tears when the president entered the room, an AFP reporter said.
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 to the April raid in which 276 girls were 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.
Global condemnation then spread, backed the social media and a protest campaign Bring Back Our Girls, which drew support from personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama and actress Angelina Jolie.
Nigeria has since accepted Western help with the rescue effort, but there have been few signs of progress.
Jonathan assured the Chibok delegation that seeing the hostages "brought out alive... is the main objective of government", presidential spokesman Reuben Abati told journalists.
