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Boko Haram 'will release abducted schoolgirls' and agree to ceasefire claims Nigerian official
Kidnapped schoolgirls set for release after deal struck with Boko Haram
(about 4 hours later)
The Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped earlier this year by Islamist militant group Boko Haram look set to be released following a ceasefire agreement with the Nigerian military.
The Nigerian government announced last night that it has agreed a deal with the militant group Boko Haram for the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.
This truce, for which direct negotiations had been held in neighbouring Chad, marks the end of a five-year conflict between the Nigerian government and the Islamist insurgents.
Their release is part of a ceasefire deal agreed between the militants and the Nigerian authorities at three days of secret talks, reportedly held in Saudi Arabia and mediated by Chad.
“I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire agreement has been concluded,” chief of defence staff Alex Badeh announced at the end of a three day security meeting between Nigeria and Cameroon.
Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, the head of Nigeria’s military forces, announced last night: “I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire agreement has been concluded.”
It appears as though the 219 school girls that are being held captive by Boko Haram will be released, although a Defence Ministry spokesman said that part of the negotiations still needs to be finalised.
Mike Omeri, a government official, confirmed that the deal included the release of the girls and other people held prisoner by the group. Boko Haram has, he said, given them assurances “that the schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well”.
He was “assured that the schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well”.
Last night it was not clear what concessions had been made on behalf of the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to secure the release of the Chibok schoolgirls. Marshal Badeh is already reported to have issued an order to his forces to “comply with the ceasefire agreement between Nigeria and Boko Haram in all theatres of operations”.
Nigerian presidential aide Hassan Tukur told the BBC: "They've assured us they have the girls and they will release them. I am cautiously optimistic."
Danladi Ahmadu, the self-proclaimed “secretary-general” of Boko Haram, which has wreaked five years of havoc in Nigeria, told the Voice of America website that a ceasefire agreement had been reached.
He said arrangements for their release would be finalised at a meeting next week in Chad.
A Nigerian presidential aide, Hassan Tukur, was quoted by the BBC as saying Boko Haram had announced a unilateral ceasefire and the government had responded. “They’ve assured us they have the girls and they will release them,” he said. “I am cautiously optimistic.”
On April 15, Boko Haram – which means ‘education is sinful' – raided a school in the remote north-eastern town of Chibok, kidnapping 276 school girls and women. Dozens escaped in the days after the abduction.
Both domestically and internationally, President Jonathan has been pilloried for his sluggish response to the kidnapping, and for his seeming inability to quell the violence from the Islamist militants who control swathes of Nigeria’s north-east.
This act brought the group international notoriety, with world leaders condemning the kidnapping and internet activists launching the global social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls.
This week a group of British politicians and a general called for the UK to help Nigeria fight the militants.
Boko Haram had demanded the release of detained extremists in exchange for the girls, but Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan would not swap prisoners.
Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in its attempt to create an Islamic caliphate. It has indiscriminately targeted civilians, bombing markets, bus stations, government buildings, churches and even mosques.
President Jonathan has come under fire in his country for failing to handle the threat of Boko Haram, which has reportedly killed 13,000 civilians in the years since 2009.
A senior Nigerian security source confirmed the existence of the talks, but told Reuters it was unclear whether the negotiations were taking place between Boko Haram’s self-proclaimed leader, Abubakar Shekau, or other factions within the group. “Commitment among parts of Boko Haram and the military does appear to be genuine. It is worth taking seriously,” the source said.
After insurgent success, Boko Haram began seizing and holding territory in the northeast of Nigeria, declaring a caliphate similar to that of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Several rounds of negotiations with Boko Haram have been attempted in recent years but they have never achieved a peace deal, partly because the group has so many different factions. “There are some talks but it depends on the buy-in of the whole group. I would be surprised if Shekau had suddenly changed his mind and is ready for a ceasefire,” the source added.
In recent weeks, however, the Nigerian military has taken back towns from the extremists and is thought to have killed hundreds of Boko Haram militants.
The Nigerian military said Shekau was killed in August 2013. But earlier this month a video was released purportedly showing Shekau dismissing rumours of his demise.
Mike Omeri, the Nigerian government’s spokesman on the kidnappings, said: "Already, the terrorists have announced a cease-fire in furtherance of their desire for peace. In this regard, the government of Nigeria has, in similar vein, declared a cease-fire.”
Even as the supposed ceasefire emerged last night, it was claimed that eight Cameroon soldiers and 107 Boko Haram militants had been killed in fierce fighting in the far north of Cameroon yesterday.
"Commitment among parts of Boko Haram and the military does appear to be genuine. It is worth taking seriously," a security source told Reuters.
That source said, however, that it is unlikely that the ceasefire extends to all factions of the Boko Haram group.
"There are some talks but it depends on the buy-in of the whole group. I would be surprised if Shekau had suddenly changed his mind and is ready for a ceasefire," the source said.
The government was negotiating with Danladi Ahmadu, a man calling himself the secretary-general of Boko Haram, the presidency source said. It was not clear if Ahmadu is part of the same faction as Shekau.
Boko Haram has not made a public statement.
The Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria had for months been neglected by the western media following the emergence of Isis in the Middle East and more recently the Ebola outbreak in west Africa.
But, on Monday, major British politicians signed a letter that called for action against Boko Haram, and for the rescue of their captives.
Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Lord Ashdown classed Boko Haram alongside Isis as a part of a “growing, well-organised international terror network that poses a direct threat to UK national security.”
