Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls 'could be freed by Tuesday' after deal with Islamic fundamentalists Boko Haram
- Head of Nigeria's armed forces announced truce to allow girls to be freed
- More than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April in remote town of Chibok
- Boko Haram is yet to comment on the reported ceasefire
- It subsequently attacked the villages of Abadam and Dzur killing at least nine people
Nigeria aims to secure the release by Tuesday of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist Boko Haram militants, two senior government sources said today, although they declined to say where this handover would take place.
Yesterday, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, the head of Nigeria’s armed forces, announced that a ceasefire had been agreed with Boko Haram that would allow the girls to be freed.
The girls were taken during exams from the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote northeastern town of Chibok in April causing worldwide shock and revulsion and leading to the twitter #bringbackourgirls campaign.
The kidnapped schoolgirls are seen at an unknown location after being abducted by Nigerian Islamist rebel group Boko Haram
There have been a number of times since April when the Nigerian government has announced a ceasefire or even that it had rescued some of the girls, all reports subsequently proved false so the latest claim has been met with some scepticism in the country.
The ceasefire announcement comes just before a rally in Abuja where President Goodluck Jonathan, or his vice president Namadi Sambo, is expected to announce his candidacy for the February 2015 elections.
Fearful: More than 200 girls were seized from the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, in April, but dozens more managed to escaped
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan (left) is expected to announce his candidacy in next February's elections and Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau (right) whom the military last year said it had killed.
One source told Reuters, the news agency, ‘I can confirm that [the federal government] is working hard to meet its own part of the agreement so that the release of the abductees can be effected either on Monday or latest Tuesday next week.’
However, a second source was more cautious, stressing that there might have to be more discussions in Nigeria and the Chadian capital N'djamena – the nearest non-Nigerian major city to the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency – before all the details are ironed out.
"We have confidence in those we are negotiating with but we are still doing it with considerable caution. Boko Haram has grown into such an amorphous entity that any splinter group could come up disowning the deal," he said.
"[But] we believe we are talking to the right people."
Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (centre), the head of Nigeria’s armed forces, announced that a ceasefire had been agreed with Boko Haram that would allow the girls to be freed
The reason for his confusion is twofold. Firstly, the group's sole means of conveying messages are videotaped speeches by a man claiming to be Abubakar Shekau, its leader whom the military last year said it had killed.
Secondly, the terrorists are split into several factions that loosely cooperate with each other, and it is unclear with which faction the government has been negotiating. It says the talks were held with a formerly unknown militant called Danladi Admadu, who alleges he is the group's "secretary general".
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