A
deal has been reached to secure the release of more than 200
schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamic militants in Nigeria, the country's
military and president claimed today.
President
Goodluck Jonathan's Principal Secretary Hassan Tukur said a ceasefire
had been brokered with Boko Haram following talks.
Around
200 girls kidnapped six months ago from a school in the northeast town
of Chibok may be released as part of the deal, he said.
Boko
Haram negotiators 'assured that the schoolgirls and all other people in
their captivity are all alive and well,' Mike Omeri, the government
spokesman on the insurgency, told a news conference.
Some of the 200 Nigerian schoolgirls
kidnapped by Boko Haram are seen in a video released by the terror group
earlier this year. A deal has reportedly been reached to secure the
release in a ceasefire agreement
Terrified: Some 276 girls were seized
from their dormitories at the Government Girls Secondary School in the
remote town of Chibok in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, in April,
but dozens managed to escaped
Boko Haram has been demanding the release of detained extremists in exchange for the girls.
There
was no immediate word from Boko Haram, which limits its announcements
almost exclusively to videos of its leader Abubakar Shekau.
It could take days for word to get to its fighters, who are broken into several groups.
They include foreigners from neighboring countries Chad, Cameroon and Niger, where the insurgents also have camps.
There
have been unconfirmed reports that at least some of the girls have been
carried across borders, and some forced to marry their captors.
'Already, the terrorists have announced a ceasefire in furtherance of their desire for peace.
'In this regard, the government of Nigeria has, in similar vein, declared a cease-fire,' Omeri said.
He confirmed there had been direct negotiations this week about the release of the abducted girls.
Another
official said the talks took place in neighbouring Chad. He spoke on
condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to
reporters.
WHO ARE BOKO HARAM? INSIGHT INTO NIGERIAN TERROR GROUP THAT'S KILLED THOUSANDS IN BID TO CREATE AN ISLAMIC STATE
Boko
Haram was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf – but it didn’t gain
worldwide notoriety until it began a violent insurgency in earnest in
2009.
Ultimately, the group wants Nigeria to become an Islamic state.
Since
mid-2009, it has killed thousands and has destabilised swathes of the
northeast of Nigeria, as well as neighbours Cameroon and Niger.
Its name means ‘Western education is forbidden’ – and it’s the country’s school system that in the main fuels its anger.
But the group has murdered people – including Muslims - for merely speaking out against it.
Firefighters and rescuers extinguish a
fire at the scene of a bomb blast at Terminus market in the central
city of Jos, Nigeria, in May, in one of two explosions blamed on terror
group Boko Haram
Yusuf established an Islamic school and mosque, which proved popular with many poor Muslim families.
He
was killed by Nigerian security forces in 2009, but rather than weaken
the group, it re-emerged with increased ferocity under the leadership of
Abubakar Shekau.
It
has bombed churches, barracks and even the UN headquarters and often
uses gunmen on the back of motorbikes to ruthless cut down those who
criticise it.
President
Goodluck Jonathan became so alarmed at the chaos the group was
spreading that in 2013 he declared a state of emergency in the areas
where it was most active – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The Nigerian military has been fairly ineffective against the heavily armed group.
A
lack of investment in training, failure to maintain equipment and
dwindling cooperation with Western forces has damaged Nigeria's armed
services, while in Boko Haram they face an increasingly well-armed,
determined foe.
Men look at the wreckage of a car
following a bomb blast at St Theresa Catholic Church outside the
Nigerian capital Abuja on December 25, 2011 amid spiralling violence
blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram
The militants know the military's limitations.
A
police source said a fighter jet flew over the market town of Gamburu
last Monday as a group of gunmen killed at least 125, but the killers
didn't flinch, knowing they could not be targeted while scattered in a
densely populated area.
‘In
a typical unit, Boko Haram has between 300 and 500 fighters. It's not a
guerrilla force that you can fight half heartedly,’ said Jacob Zenn, a
Boko Haram expert at U.S. counter-terrorism institution CTC Sentinel
said in May.
‘It's snowballing. It's getting more weapons, more recruits, their power is increasing every day.’
On February 12 dozens of fighters loyal to Boko Haram attacked a remote military outpost in the Gwoza hills.
A
security source with knowledge of the assault said they came in Hilux
tracks with mounted machine guns and showered the camp with gunfire.
Boko
Haram's fighters had little cover and were easily picked off - 50 of
them died against nine Nigerian troops - but they still managed to make
off with the base's entire armoury stockpile of 200 mortar bombs, 50
rocket-propelled grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, the
source said.
Their
ability to dart over the border into Cameroon, whose own security
forces have shown little appetite for taking them on, gives the
militants an added advantage.
Ethnic and religious divisions within the military have also bred some collusion with Boko Haram, sources say.
Women
protest against the release of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram
fighters. The case of the abducted school girls drew global attention,
magnified by a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign
DID HASHTAG APPEAL HELP GIRLS?
More
than three weeks after the Islamic extremists abducted the girls, the
world outrage galvanised Twitter and other social-media networks.
The case was not widely followed until #BringBackOurGirls and other hashtags attracted a torrent of attention.
More
than 2.1million tweets using #BringBackOurGirls were posted within
weeks of their abduction, according to Topsy, a site that offers Twitter
analytics.
Their
plight was then magnified when celebrities including Michelle Obama
(above) and Angelina Jolie joined up, placing pressure on world leaders
to secure their release.
Some
276 girls were seized from their dormitories at the Government Girls
Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state,
northeastern Nigeria, on the night of April 14.
Fifty-seven escaped and Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau later vowed to sell the rest as sex slaves.
In the weeks after the kidnapping, Mr Brown, a UN envoy, had led calls for an 'international and domestic response'.
Jonathan
was criticised at home and abroad for his slow response to the
kidnapping and for his inability to quell the violence by the terror
group, whose name means 'Western education is forbidden.'
The Nigerian military has twice claimed its leader Abubakr Shekau had been killed, but Boko Haram later issued video denials.
The
latest one came earlier this month when he was apparently seen in a
video that shows the beheading of a man who identifies himself the pilot
of a missing Nigerian Air Force jet
Their
plight drew global attention, magnified by a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter
campaign that drew in celebrities including Michelle Obama and Angelina
Jolie.
Earlier
this week, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to helping
Nigeria find the group while former British prime minister Gordon Brown
said the world should not forget the girls' struggle.
Their plight drew protests around the world with demands that the military and government get them free.
Pakistani school pupil and education
activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban, with Rebecca
Samuel, whose daughter is missing in Abuja, Nigeria. Malala travelled
to Abuja in Nigeria to meet the relatives of schoolgirls who were
kidnapped by Boko Haram earlier this year
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