directonpc
Girls will hopefully be released by Tuesday
Oct 19 2014 at 05:44am
Abuja - Nigeria aims to have secured the release of
200 girls kidnapped by Islamist Boko Haram militants
by Tuesday, a senior source at the presidency told
Reuters on Saturday, although he declined to
comment on where the transfer would take place.
"I can confirm that FG (the federal government) is
working hard to meet its own part of the agreement
so that the release of the abductees can by effected
either on Monday or latest Tuesday next week," the
source told Reuters by telephone.
The head of Nigeria's military, Air Chief Marshal Alex
Badeh, announced on Friday that authorities had
reached a deal with Boko Haram for a ceasefire that
would enable the release of the girls, who were
kidnapped while taking exams in a secondary school
from the remote northeastern town of Chibok in April.
Officials at the presidency and the military did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
Boko Haram, which conveys messages in videotaped
speeches by a man claiming to be its leader,
Abubakar Shekau, has also not yet commented on the
ceasefire.
Some Nigerians are likely to greet claims of a
ceasefire with scepticism after five years of violence.
Since the girls' abduction, Nigeria's military has twice
claimed to have rescued some or all of the girls, only
to back-track hours later.
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
several different factions.
The group, whose name translates roughly as "Western
education is sinful" has killed thousands of people in
its struggle to carve an Islamic state out of religiously
mixed Nigeria.
source: news24
