Tuesday 13 May 2014

NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT READY TO DIALOGUE WITH BOKO HARAM

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said on Monday that captured girls who had not converted to Islam could be swapped for jailed fighters.Mr Turaki said that if Shekau was sincere, he should send representatives for talks.The girls were abducted last month from a boarding school in the north-east.A video emerged on Monday showing about 130 of the girls wearing hijabs and reciting Koranic verses.The governor of north-eastern Borno state, Kashim Shettima, says all those seen in the 27-minute footage have been identified as the abducted schoolgirls from Chibok Secondary School.The girls' families have said that most of those seized are Christians, although there are a number of Muslims among them.Mr Turaki - who is special duties minister and chairman of a committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to find ways of reaching agreement with Boko Haram - said that Shekau should send people he trusted to meet the standing committee on reconciliation. A team of about 30 US experts - members of the FBI and defence and state departments - is in Nigeria to help with the search. The UK, France and China also have teams on the ground in Nigeria and an Israeli counter-terrorism team is on its way.

No comments: